


our words are pure inspiration

by Freezeurbrain



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, We Are The Tigers - Allen
Genre: Character Death, Cheerleader AU, Cheerleaders, F/F, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, M/M, Murder, Murder Mystery, britton!jake, eben!brooke, hints of richjake if you squint, jeremiah!michael, justin!dustin, kind of boyf riends but it’s one-sided, liam!jeremy, morgan!chloe, read as anthony!rich, stephanie!christine, tiffany!jenna
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:14:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 33,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25945666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freezeurbrain/pseuds/Freezeurbrain
Summary: After four years of trying, Rich has finally become the captain of the Middleborough Tigers cheerleading team. Despite the team’s reputation as “the worst team ever”, Rich is confident that he can turn the Tigers around and make them champions. With his best friend Jake helping him out, Rich decides to throw a sleepover to (hopefully) allow the team members to bury some old grudges and work together towards greatness. Unfortunately, when three kids end up dead, they have a very different problem on their hands.Getting cut from the team has never been so literal.
Relationships: Brooke Lohst/Chloe Valentine, Dustin Kropp/Michael Mell, Jake Dillinger & Rich Goranski, Jeremy Heere & Michael Mell
Comments: 36
Kudos: 22





	1. #WorstTeamEver

**Author's Note:**

> It’s been SO LONG since I’ve posted a bmc fic guys I’m forgetting my roots. Anyway I’ve had this idea in the back of my mind for a while now so I decided to write it out. Enjoy :)

_The blonde girl crept through the dark attic, casting her phone’s flashlight in front of her as she moved. The air was thick with dust- clearly, nobody had been up here in a long time. But she’d heard something up here- she was sure of it._

_She walked past a cardboard box labeled “XMAS DECORATIONS”, a stack of old VHS tapes, and a dollhouse that had clearly been long forgotten. The toy furniture inside was still neatly arranged, with the dolls sitting around a tiny table as if they had been abandoned in the middle of a child’s game._

_Her phone buzzed, startling her. When she looked down at the screen, a text message was being displayed._

_**Jessica: omg, you’re STILL watching the Nicholson kids?!?!?!?** _

_Sighing, she typed out a reply._

_**McKenzie: ugh yeah it’s soooo boring** 😫_

_**Jessica: you’re missing the party!! Heather is making out with Josh** _

_**McKenzie: ew, what a skank** _

_**Jessica: IKR??** _

_**McKenzie: the kids are asleep right now. i’m up in the attic** _

_**Jessica: wtf why** _

_**McKenzie: I thought I heard something** _

_**Jessica: oooh spooky!!! better watch out, it might be a ghost 👻** _

_**McKenzie: wow you’re SO funny** 🙄_

_McKenzie was about to type, but a sudden creaking noise snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked up, suddenly scared. Even though she knew that it could have been anything- it was probably just a rat, dusty old attics like this one were full of them -she still found herself creeping forward to check it out._

_“Hello?” There was no sound except for her own voice echoing back at her. “Who’s there?”_

_Right at that moment, she felt a hand clamping over her mouth-_

Jake’s laptop screen suddenly slammed shut, cutting off the show he’d been watching mid-scene. “Shit! What’d you do that for?” 

Jake’s best friend Rich- evidently the one who’d closed Jake’s laptop -was standing behind the couch with a disapproving look on his face. “We are not watching that crap.”

“Dude, it’s the mid-season finale.” Jake groaned. “Now I’m gonna have to mute the tag for _Emily’s Fantasy_ on Twitter or else I’ll get spoilers the second the page refreshes.”

“That show is objectifying, sexualized, and unrealistic.” Rich said. “And that has no place here tonight.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “Calm down. It’s not real.” 

Rich shook his head, giving a half-laugh- not so much a laugh of amusement as it was a ‘ _I am so done with this shit_ ’ laugh. “Hey, Jake, I could really use your full support tonight. Not like a co-captain, exactly, but... like a first mate. Can you do that for me?”

“Aye-aye.” Jake made an overdramatic saluting gesture, not because he liked the idea of being Rich’s _first mate_ \- whatever the fuck that meant -but mostly to get his best friend off his case.

Rich smiled. “I feel really good about this year. I think with the right kind of leadership, we might have an actual shot.”

“At what, exactly?” Jake asked.

“Regionals?” Rich’s smile faded slightly. “Anything? Doing a stunt correctly?”

“I thought we weren’t gonna talk about that.”

Rich shook his head. “You’re right, I just... see it every time I close my eyes.”

“And every time you open them.” Jake took his phone out of his pocket and opened up the YouTube app. “Let’s see, I think it had 3,000,467 views the last time I checked-“

“No, no, no.” Rich cut Jake off. “That’s in the past. After tonight, I want us to be a real team.”

“Hey, at least there’s ‘nowhere to go but up.’” Jake muttered. 

“I’m serious, Jake.” Rich sighed. “You do realize that this is our last year on the team, right?”

“No, I’ve been living under a rock for the past four years.” Jake rolled his eyes. 

“It’s my last year to leave an _impression_.” Rich bit his bottom lip. “To show everyone that I’m not captain just because no one else wanted to be.”

“Okay, Rich, seriously. Stop freaking out.” Jake said.

“I’m not freaking out!” Rich wrung his hands nervously.

“Dear God...” Jake murmured under his breath. “You need to take a chill pill.”

Rich was not interested in taking chill pills at the moment. “This sleepover has to go well. We have to start the year off strong, otherwise we’re never going to get anywhere.”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure that if you weren’t micromanaging every aspect of it, this sleepover would _totally_ end with someone dead on your front lawn.”

“I could really do without the sarcasm, Jake.” Rich said. As he spoke, his lisp came out on the ‘s’ in ‘sarcasm’- something that only happened when he was really nervous.

“I’m just saying that there’s not a lot of horrible stuff that can happen at a cheer team sleepover. Worst case scenario is, like, Jeremy and Michael fuck in your parents’ bedroom or something.”

“Jeremy and Michael aren’t even-“ Rich shook his head. “That doesn’t matter. After everything that happened last year, I’d rather have too much structure than too little.”

“If you say so.”

“I’m telling you, this year is going to be our year.” Rich smiled, albeit shakily. 

Jake sighed. He really _did_ want this night to go well- or, at the very least, not be a living nightmare. Not so much for his own sake, but for Rich’s. And even though he hated most of the people on the team, he couldn’t just leave. He was probably the only person keeping Rich from sliding into a self-destructive spiral. 

Besides, it was just one night. Really, what was the worst that could happen?

***

“Got your bag!” 

Michael was not in the mood for any jokes at the moment. So when Jeremy snatched Michael’s backpack out of the trunk of the car and held it high out of reach, Michael didn’t exactly feel like playing along with the charade.

“Dude, give that back.” Michael reached up for the backpack, but Jeremy only held it up even higher. 

“Can’t escape now.” Jeremy smirked.

“Come on.” Michael rolled his eyes. “You’re _this_ desperate to make me go to this stupid party?”

“It’s a team party. And we’re both on the team, Michael. Besides...” Jeremy used one hand to grab his car keys out of his back pocket, dangling them in front of Michael’s face. “I’m your ride home. Unless you feel like calling an Uber.”

“We could still go back to your place.” Michael offered, even though he knew it was a futile effort. “Or we could volunteer at a funeral home. It would be just as fun, and we’d at least get some community service hours out of it.”

Jeremy shook his head. “You are not leaving me here.”

“Whatever.” Michael said, “You know, I’m quitting this stupid squad the second you’re gone.”

“I don’t know...” Jeremy smirked and tossed Michael his backpack. “I think you’re secretly _dying_ to be a Tiger.”

“As if.” Michael slung his backpack over his shoulder. “What are they gonna do if you ditch, anyway? Replace you? You’re the best person on the team, dude.”

“That’s not what the memes on Instagram say...” Jeremy’s voice trailed off.

“Are people _still_ on that?” Michael asked.

“The YouTube video has three million views.” Jeremy said flatly. “And, apparently, a dubstep remix.” 

“You shouldn’t pay attention to that.” Michael said. “It’s all just jerks with nothing better to do.”

“Didn’t know there were enough jerks in New Jersey to get a hashtag trending.” Jeremy grabbed his own bag- a blue duffel -out of the trunk of the car and shut the door. 

“It’s _New Jersey_.” Michael protested. “There’s enough jerks to get a hundred hashtags trending.”

“You only think that because you moved here from New York, and you think all New Jerseyans are bagel and pizza snobs who live on an exit just off the freeway.”

“Am I wrong?” Michael raised an eyebrow.

“No, you’re absolutely correct, but still.” Jeremy managed a chuckle. “You’re biased.”

“It’s not my fault I come from the better state.” Michael laughed, lightly shoving Jeremy’s arm.

“At least where _I_ come from, you don’t hear sirens all the damn time.”

“At least _my_ state doesn’t have the trashiest reality TV show to ever be on the air.”

“At least-“

Jeremy was cut off when Michael noticed a familiar-looking Jeep pulling into the driveway behind Jeremy’s car. “Wait. Is that who I think it is?”

Jeremy examined the Jeep. “No one else I know has a collection of Beanie Babies on the dashboard and a purple cheetah-print license plate on their fender.”

Sure enough, when the Jeep stopped and the driver got out, it was a teenage girl with dark skin and curly dark hair streaked with purple.

“But what would Jenna be doing here?” Michael asked. 

“I wonder if she finally made the team.” Jeremy mused. 

“Good for her if she did.” Michael said, “After three years of rejection, I would have given up.”

“Hey, guys!” Jenna waved to Michael and Jeremy, a gesture which the two teenage boys awkwardly returned. “Are you here for the sleepover too?”

“Yep.” Jeremy nodded. “Are you on the team this year, Jennie?” 

Jenna’s shoulders slumped. “I wish. But I got an invite from Rich, so I figured-“

“Hey, it doesn’t matter to us.” Jeremy smiled. 

Jenna visibly relaxed. “Thanks. Oh, if you don’t mind, could one of you help me with my trunk? My car is, like, a dinosaur. It takes two people just to pry the trunk open.”

“I’ll help.” Michael said.

“Thanks.” Jenna smiled.

As Michael and Jenna went to go figure out Jenna’s car trunk, Jeremy took advantage of the moment to reach into his jacket pocket and take out an orange plastic bottle of pain medication. After looking up to make sure that Michael wasn’t watching, Jeremy popped the cap open and poured a single pill into his hand. He placed the pill in his mouth and swallowed, placing the bottle back into his pocket just in time for Jenna and Michael to finish up.

“You good?” Jeremy asked.

“Yeah.” Jenna nodded.

“As good as I can be.” Michael said flatly.

“We should probably get inside, then.” Jeremy said. 

“Oh, yeah. Wouldn’t want to keep the team waiting.”

Jeremy could hear the sarcasm in Michael’s voice, but he decided not to comment on it. As they walked back inside, he could feel the plastic pill bottle hitting his side with every step he took.


	2. #DontEvenCare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> huge thank you to Bella (musical-stan-first-human-later on tumblr) for her watt transcript!! It helped a lot

Chloe’s mother had told her that God only gave people hardships that He knew they could handle. As she raised her phone to her ear to leave her stepsister yet another voicemail, she thought that God must really think she could handle a lot.

“Hey, Madeline.” Chloe sighed. “It’s Chloe. I have no idea where you are, but we really need to get going now if we want to make it to the sleepover on time. So if you don’t call me back in, like, the next five minutes, I will absolutely go without you.”

She wouldn’t have _actually_ abandoned her stepsister, of course. That would have gotten her in trouble with her parents. Because even though Madeline was always getting herself into trouble, it was somehow always Chloe’s job to get her out of it. 

There was a knock on her bedroom door. “You ready?”

“Just a sec, Brooke.” Chloe looked down at her phone again, hoping that she’d see an incoming call- or even just a simple text message -from Madeline. But there was nothing. As always.

Chloe stared at her own reflection in the mirror hanging on her bedroom wall. She looked the same as always. Above the mirror, a sign had been hung up on the wall- a quote from the Bible, in fancy gold lettering. 

“ _God is within her, she will not fall - Psalm 46:5._ ”

She was just about to walk out the door and tell Brooke that they should just leave and quit waiting for Madeline when her phone buzzed with an incoming call. When she looked down, the caller ID read “Madeline”.

Chloe didn’t even know it was possible to move as fast as she did to answer the phone. “Madeline, did you _die_ or something?! I’ve been calling you for the past twenty minutes!”

“Sorry about that.” It was hard for Chloe to even make out what Madeline was saying- on the other end of the line, there was music with a loud bass beat and what sounded like a bunch of people talking. It didn’t help that Madeline’s speech was slurred and that she seemed to be humming along to a Lizzo song whenever she wasn’t speaking- had she really been drinking again? “I left my phone in the bathroom.”

“This is not the time!” Chloe said. “We were supposed to leave ten minutes ago!”

Madeline laughed, as if Chloe had just asked for the answer to two plus two. “So leave ten minutes ago.”

Yep, Madeline had _definitely_ been drinking. But, as infuriating as that was, Chloe didn’t have the time to unpack all of that. “We’re on our way. Where are you?”

“I really don’t know. Ooh, wait, hold on. Let me drop a pin.”

“Madeline-“

Chloe was cut off by her stepsister. “How do you drop a pin?”

“You don’t _need_ to drop a pin.” Chloe inhaled sharply, desperately trying to maintain some semblance of composure. “I’ll just track your location with Life360.”

“You can track my location with Life fucking 360?!” Madeline sounded way more shocked than a normal (read: sober) person would have. 

“That’s the whole reason we got Life360.” Chloe muttered.

“That is wack.” Madeline giggled.

“Just hold on. We’re coming to get you.” Chloe said. “And don’t drink anything else-“

“I’m gonna get a drink for the road.” Madeline yelled, so loudly that Chloe had to pull the phone away from her ear. Honest to God, if babysitting her stepsister didn’t leave psychological scars, it would definitely at least do a real number on her eardrums. “See ya.”

“Wait, no, Madeline, I said _don’t_ -“ 

The line went dead.

_Sweet baby Jesus in the manger..._

Chloe couldn’t stop herself- she audibly groaned. 

“Everything okay in there?” Brooke’s voice was muffled through the door, but the concern in her tone was evident.

“No.” Chloe sighed. “Come on, we have to go find Madeline before she drinks herself to death.” 

She knew that she was supposed to be trying to get along with Madeline. She was supposed to be trying to be a good stepsister. But she was, frankly, _sick_ of trying. It seemed like Madeline was never putting in the same effort. Why should she keep sacrificing things for Madeline if Madeline never did the same for her? 

She felt awful for even thinking this, but sometimes she wished Madeline had never entered her life.

***

“Welcome, everyone!” 

Rich was incredibly chipper- almost _too_ chipper, really -as he addressed the small crowd gathered in his basement. Calling it a crowd was a stretch, really- so far, it only consisted of Michael, Jeremy, Jenna, Jake, and a short Asian girl who was fidgeting with a bracelet around her wrist. 

“Thank you all so much for coming.” Rich smiled.

“Hey, look.” Jeremy nudged Michael as Rich launched into a lengthy speech. When Michael looked up, he gestured to the girl who seemed to be hanging on to Rich’s every word. “We got a new one.”

“Great.” Michael muttered. “Someone to replace Madeline.”

“Nope.” Jeremy shook his head, almost regretfully. “Madeline’s still on the team.” He lifted up his phone to show Michael a text from Chloe in the team GroupMe.

_ChloeBear: I’m so sorry we’re running late!!! We just found out Madeline is in another county. So we’re going to get her and then we’ll be right there._

Michael stifled a laugh, which caused Rich to look over. “What’s so funny, you two?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Jeremy said dismissively.

Jake rolled his eyes from his spot on the couch- he was taking up practically half the sofa on his own, like the tool he was -but Rich seemed to buy Jeremy’s flimsy excuse. 

“Okay, as I was saying...” Rich cleared his throat. “The annual cheer team sleepover has been a Middleborough High School tradition for thirty-eight years now, and I am absolutely honored to be carrying that on here with all of you.”

“Some of us.” Michael piped up from the bean bags where he and Jeremy had parked themselves.

“Ah, right.” Rich looked around the small group. “Does anyone have an update on Chloe and Madeline?”

Jeremy was about to respond, but the short Asian girl sitting on the couch- what little was left after Jake had made himself comfortable -butt in. “I don’t have signal down here.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry.” Rich said. “The WiFi is GoranskiRes5G, and the password is 009!B-498X3****Dy92.” 

The girl seemed to be trying to input this into her phone, but between the length and complexity of the password and how rapid-fire Rich’s speech was, she appeared to simply give up halfway through and resign herself to an evening of no cell service.

“You good?” Rich apparently interpreted the girl’s putting down her phone in defeat as her having successfully entered the password. “Awesome. Anyway, this is probably a good time to discuss this year’s lateness policy, which is that there isn’t one. Because no one should ever be late.”

This statement received awkward silence until Michael finally spoke up. “But wouldn’t it be better to just... have a lateness policy?”

“I just told you the policy, Michael.” Rich said.

“No.” Michael spoke as if he were trying to explain something to a toddler. “You said there was _no_ lateness policy, Rich.”

“Michael...” Rich’s voice trailed off as he desperately looked around for the politest way possible to tell Michael to put a sock in it. “I have the... speaking... thing...” 

Rich’s eyes landed on the Asian girl, who was playing with a box of pom-poms that had a pink dumbbell resting on it. Rich pulled the box out of the girl’s hands, causing her to lean forward in surprise, and held up the weight as he spoke.

“I have the speaking weight!” Rich smiled, looking rather pleased with himself at his impromptu solution. “And no one speaks without the speaking weight.”

Everyone seemed to abide by this new rule, except for Michael, who leaned in to whisper a characteristic sarcastic remark to Jeremy. “This is so stupid. Who let _Rich_ be captain?”

“Michael...” Jeremy’s voice was quiet, but pleading. “Please, just try to tolerate him for tonight.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

Rich was just about to start talking again when the basement door slammed open. Loud arguing poured into the room that had, a few seconds ago, been mostly quiet. Jenna, who had been standing by the stairs, scrambled out of the way, going to stand behind the couch.

“Get off of me!” Madeline stumbled into the room, nearly tripping over her own two feet as she walked down the stairs. Chloe followed behind her, annoyance all over her face. 

“I could use some help here.” Chloe snapped, reaching out and grabbing Madeline’s wrist.

“You’re late.” Rich said, disapproval tinging his voice.

Madeline pulled her wrist out of Chloe’s grasp, giving her stepsister an icy glare. “It’s not my fault her girlfriend drives like a little bitch.” 

As Madeline walked over to an armchair on the other side of the room, her body wobbled. In one hand, she held her bag, and in the other, a red plastic water bottle. 

“What happened...” Rich gestured to Madeline. “Here?”

“Someone pre-gamed a little too hard.” Chloe made her way to the armchair on the opposite side of the room as Madeline, disdain in her voice.

“I’m here.” Madeline dropped her bag on the floor and sat down in the armchair, taking a sip from her water bottle. “Let’s cheer.”

“Hell no.” Michael stood up and looked over at Chloe. “Take her home.”

“Last time she came home drunk, _I_ got grounded for not watching her.” Chloe said. “There’s no way I’m getting in trouble again because of her.”

“I’m fine.” Madeline took another big sip from the water bottle. “Y’all are overreacting.”

Rich eyed the plastic bottle nervously. “That’s just water, right?”

Madeline lowered the bottle and looked Rich straight in the eye, then flatly said, “Yes.” After a second, she winked at Rich, holding her eye shut for a comical amount of time.

“Okay, great!” Rich’s pep was obviously wearing thin, and the night had barely begun. “Now that we’re all here, I’d like to officially introduce the newest member of our squad, Christine Canigula.” He gestured to the girl on the couch, who gave an awkward little wave. The rest of the team responded with short waves and the occasional _”Hi, Christine.”_

“Christine’s team placed second at UCA Worlds last year, so we’re very honored that she’s chosen the Tigers for high school.”

Rich picked up a pom-pom from the box, which he’d set on the coffee table, and tossed it to Christine, who caught it. Christine hunched her shoulders, clearly uncomfortable with being put on the spot and having everyone’s eyes on her. After a moment, she spoke.

“It’s just by my house.”

She seemed satisfied with her answer at first, but after a second, she smiled sheepishly and put her head down.

“Look.” Rich looked around at his fellow team members. “I know that we’re new teammates and a lot of us aren’t that close, so I think we should go around and share a little bit about ourselves. Huh? How about that?”

“We’re all Facebook friends.” Michael said. “I think we know a decent amount about each other.”

“I just think it would be nice to share our hopes and dreams for the future! For example...” Rich said. He pulled the pom-pom out of Christine’s hands, once again startling the girl. “I’m Rich. I’m your new captain. I know we’ve had some bumps in the road, but this year, with some focus and hard work, I really believe we can move forward and become champions! When I was elected team captain, I made a promise to myself and to my teammates that I would keep the best interests of this team in mind. Well, I can assure you all, I have not gone back on that promise.”

And so began a _very_ long speech by Rich all about what being team captain was like. Pretty much everyone, save for Jake and Christine, tuned out after the five-minute mark. 

One thing was abundantly clear to most, if not all, of the sleepover attendees: this night was going to be far, far too long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes I know I cut it in a weird place but otherwise this chapter would be 5,000 words so pls bear with me


	3. #TruthOrDare

Jake might have been a conceited jerk who couldn’t keep his mouth shut, but Michael had to admit- whenever he wanted to get a point across, he sure as hell succeeded. Case in point: he swooped in after Rich’s lengthy speech surpassed 25 minutes- which, yeah, was at least 25 reasons Rich needed to be stopped before he got out of hand. 

“And _that’s_ why, if you need to bring an inhaler to practice, you should just go ahead and bring one-“

“Okay, Rich.” Jake sat up and looked at his best friend. “Why don’t you let someone else have a turn?” 

“Oh.” Rich blinked and laughed nervously, apparently having not noticed how long he’d been talking for. “Jeez, I just started rambling there. Sorry, guys. Uh, Jeremy? How about you go next?”

Jeremy stood up, catching the pom-pom that Rich tossed him with ease. He spoke with a confidence that was obviously manufactured- Michael could see his hands shaking as he talked. “Hey, everyone. I’m Jeremy. I’m a senior. This is my second year on the Tigers.”

Suddenly, Christine perked up. “Oh! I know you!” She smiled at Jeremy from her spot on the couch. “My family followed you all the way to the Olympics!” As soon as those words left her mouth, Christine winced. “I’m... uh... I’m so sorry that you couldn’t go.”

“It’s ok.” Jeremy said, despite his expression saying the exact opposite. “I’m totally over it.”

In an effort to spare his best friend some embarrassment, Michael stood up and grabbed the pom-pom from Jeremy’s hands, effectively snatching the attention off of Jeremy as well. As Michael introduced himself, Jeremy sat down again, shooting Michael a grateful smile as he did so. Michael tried to ignore the shiver that went up his spine when Jeremy’s hand brushed his. _Not now, Michael._

“I’m Michael. I’m a junior.”

Michael looked around the room. He wasn’t really interested in sharing too much with these kids- he was perfectly comfortable being Facebook-friend status with most of them. No one seemed incredibly interested in what Michael had to say, anyhow- Jake was scrolling through his phone, Chloe was obsessively rubbing a TideStick on a spot on her skirt, and Madeline was drinking from her “water” bottle. 

“That’s it.” Michael tossed the pom-pom back to Rich. 

“Okay.” Rich looked slightly disappointed with Michael’s lackluster response. “Chloe! You’re up next.”

“Hmm?” Chloe looked up from her attempted removal of the stain on her skirt, just in time to catch the pom-pom Rich threw before it hit her in the face. “Oh!” She stood up, straightening her skirt as she did so. “I’m Chloe. I’m a junior, and I’m also the founder of Middleborough High School’s first ever a cappella group, Chords for Christ!” She looked over at Christine and smiled warmly. “I joined the team as a freshman too, so I know what it’s like.”

Chloe handed the pom-pom to Rich, who didn’t even have to pass it to Madeline- Madeline snatched it out of his hands herself. “I’m Madeline. Sophomore. I’m the founder of Middleborough High School’s second ever a cappella group, Songs for Satan. Please consider applying.” She glared at Chloe on the other side of the room. “I joined the team as a freshman, too. It’s not a special club.”

“Actually, Madeline-“ Rich took the pom-pom from Madeline and gave the group an extremely artificial smile. “Everyone here is special!”

“I want to go home.” Michael muttered.

“Michael-“ Rich cast a disapproving look over in Michael’s direction. “We could really use some positivity here!”

Michael looked like he was about to say more, but Jeremy placed a hand on his best friend’s shoulder, and that gesture seemed to calm Michael down slightly. 

“Ugh.” Madeline leaned her head back in an over-exaggerated groan. “I already did this shit last year. Why do I have to do it again?”

“If you’re so bored, why don’t you just leave?” Chloe snapped. “Maybe then the rest of us would actually have a shot at a decent evening!”

Madeline looked strangely hurt by Chloe’s words, but only for a moment. After that moment passed, she resumed her usual resting bitch face. “Thank God I can’t drive a car, then.”

Chloe looked absolutely scandalized. “Don’t use the Lord’s name in vain!”

On the couch, Christine was nervously picking at a loose thread on one of the throw pillows. Jake caught her nervous movements out of the corner of his eye and leaned forward to talk to her. “Hey, you good?”

“Huh?” Christine looked up. 

“You’re kinda mutilating that poor innocent pillow there.” Jake gestured to the throw pillow in Christine’s hands.

“Oh.” Christine looked sheepishly down at the pillow. “Sorry. I fidget when I get nervous.”

“Yeah, well, between you and me, Rich will probably have a brain aneurysm if you destroy his parents’ couch.” Jake smirked. 

Christine cracked a smile, but it quickly faded. “I just... I feel like I’m doing everything wrong.”

Jake gave Christine a sympathetic look and patted her on the shoulder. “You’re doing fine, kid.” 

“Okay, everyone!” Rich cut both Madeline and Chloe’s argument and Jake’s encouragement of Christine short when he tossed the pom-pom to Jenna.

Jenna looked surprised for a moment, before she grinned and hugged the pom-pom to her chest as if it were the most precious thing on Earth. “Hi! I’m Jenna! I’m a senior.”

Jake piped up, “Jennie here is our resident furry.”

Jenna’s posture stiffened, but she kept her composure. “ _Mascot_ is the actual word.” 

“You wear a fursuit. It’s the same damn thing.” Jake reached over and grabbed the pom-pom out of Jenna’s hands, standing up off the couch. Christine took this moment to put her legs up, snagging a little more legroom for herself while Jake was preoccupied with introducing himself.

“I’m Jake. Last year’s Prom prince and this year’s future Prom king. Not to brag or anything, but I’m kind of like the Tigers’ co-captain.”

“That’s not what I said-“

Rich was cut off by Chloe, who angrily stood up. “What? Is co-captain a thing now?”

“It’s not!” Rich shook his head.

Despite his denial, Chloe continued talking. “If there’s going to be a co-captain, we should have tryouts. I think that’s only fair and not nepotism.”

“It’s not nepotism, bitch, it’s just friendship.” Jake smirked, apparently enjoying the activity of getting Chloe all riled up.

Jeremy raised his hand. “That’s... literally the definition of nepotism.”

“Okay!” Rich jumped in between Chloe and Jake, holding his hands out like poor Andy Cohen at those goddamn reunions. “Okay! Okay! Why don’t we take this competitive spirit and put it into our cheers instead? Sound good?”

“I just don’t see why Jake should get to be co-captain over other, more deserving individuals.” Chloe crossed her arms and gave Jake an icy glare.

“Aw, did someone’s feelings get hurt?” Jake put on a pouty face that was obviously intended to mock Chloe.

“Guys, guys!” Rich looked around at his team desperately. “Let’s not fight, please. We’re the cheer team. We’re supposed to unite the school in pursuit of a common goal. How are we supposed to do that if we can’t even have unity amongst ourselves?”

“Oh, excuse me, Sensei Rich.” Madeline rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t aware we were supposed to be finding inner peace and harmony all of the sudden. I would have brought my yoga mat if I knew that was the case.”

“It’s literally in our signature cheer.” Rich said, “ _We are the soul of the school, the pride in the name, the heart and the flame. Our words are pure inspiration, years of creation, changing the nation._ ” This, however, received only blank stares from his teammates. “How do you people not know this?!”

“Because no one cares about that stupid cheer.” Michael called from the back of the room, like a heckler at a performance. If he could have brought rotten tomatoes to throw at Rich, he probably would have.

Before Rich could respond, Jake pulled him off to the side. 

“What was that for?” Rich asked.

“Look, dude, I hate to say it. Like, I _really_ hate to say it, but Michael’s right.” Jake said. “No one wants to be here tonight.”

“Why not?” Rich said, “It’s the annual sleepover! I worked so hard for this. I ordered the pizza, I bought the drinks, and I even cut the crusts off the sandwiches for Michael!”

“I’m sorry, but-“ Jake stopped mid-sentence as that last part sunk in. “Wait, why would you cut the crusts off Michael’s sandwich?”

“You never noticed?” Rich looked at Jake like he’d just asked for the answer to two plus two. “He’s always happier when the crusts are cut off. I’ve been doing it to keep him agreeable ever since he joined the squad.”

“That-“ Jake took a sharp inhale of breath. Rich manipulating Michael’s emotions with bread crusts was _not_ the thing he needed to be focusing on right now. “I’m not even gonna question that. Look, face it, dude. You’re the only one excited for this sleepover.”

Rich’s shoulders sunk. “I’m doing everything wrong, aren’t I?”

“No, no, no, Rich.” Jake grabbed his friend’s shoulders. “You’re doing great. It’s the rest of the team who’s... not doing so well.”

Breathing in heavily, Rich turned to address the team once more. “See? That was painless!”

The expressions on everyone’s faces said otherwise.

“Moving on...” Rich’s voice trailed off. 

Jake’s face suddenly lit up as he realized the perfect way to get everyone invested in this sleepover. “How about a game of Truth or Dare?”

Rich looked at his best friend with surprise. “That’s not on the agenda, Jake.”

Michael groaned. “Can’t we just watch TV or something?”

“Oh, um, no electronics at the sleepover.” Rich said. “Actually, in fact...” He rooted around underneath the coffee table and grabbed a small wicker basket. “Give me your phones.”

“What?!” Chloe sat up, looking alarmed. “I don’t remember that rule from last year.”

“Yeah, because Captain Kimberly wanted to sext the entire time instead of teaching us anything.” Rich said. “It’s not gonna be like that anymore.”

Rich reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone, which he placed inside the basket. After a moment of hesitation, Jake followed suit. “If _I_ can do it, so can the rest of you.” Jake looked around the group. “No phones...” His eyes landed on Chloe. “No romantic partners... just good old-fashioned Truth or Dare. Who wants to go first?”

After almost everyone had placed their phones in the basket, Jake’s eyes landed on Chloe. 

“Chloe! How about you start us off?”

Immediately, Chloe’s whole body tensed. “I’m not playing.”

“You have to play.” Jake held up Rich’s clipboard containing the ‘agenda’ for the evening. “It says right here on the agenda- 6:30 to 7:30 is team-building exercises. This is a team-building exercise.”

Chloe gritted her teeth. “Fine. Truth.”

“Are you a virgin?” Jake asked.

Chloe looked slightly taken aback by the question, but she answered. “Yes, and I’m proud of that.”

“Come on.” Michael scoffed. “You and Brooke have been together for, like, six years.”

Madeline nodded from her armchair. “And let’s be real, she is a hundred percent bang-able.”

“Yeah, well, she’ll still be just as... sleep-with-able when we’re married.” Chloe said.

“Mmm...” Madeline pursed her lips together. “Bang-able.”

“Stop it.” Chloe growled.

Madeline smirked. “Bang-able!”

“Stop!” Chloe snapped.

“Okay!” Rich cut Madeline off before she could antagonize Chloe any further. “Who wants to go next?”

Jenna’s hand shot up. “Me! I’ll go!”

Jake looked over at Christine. “Christine, how about you?”

Christine blinked, but nodded. “Um, okay.”

Jake smiled. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare.” Christine blurted out the word without a second thought.

“Hmm...” Jake looked around the room for a second before his eyes lit up. As Madeline was about to take another sip from her “water” bottle, he reached over and grabbed it out of her hands, unscrewing the white plastic lid. 

“Hey, that’s mine!” Madeline protested.

Jake looked over his shoulder. “Sharing is caring, bitch.”

Rich looked over at Madeline, then gestured to the bottle. “That _is_ just water, right?”

What followed was an uncomfortable silence as everyone looked at each other, knowing full well that it wasn’t water Madeline was drinking. 

“I dare you to drink all of this.” Jake held the bottle out to Christine, who hesitantly grabbed it. Christine put the open bottle to her mouth and took a sip, her face scrunching up at the taste. Jake tipped up the end of the bottle and nodded, encouraging Christine to keep drinking. Christine’s face became more and more disgusted as she continued to drink.

“I don’t think that’s water...” Jenna said slowly. 

“That’s enough.” Rich shook his head. “Give it to me.”

Rich grabbed the bottle from Christine, but not soon enough to stop her from chugging all its contents. Jake cheered and clapped his hands, grinning. “Now _that’s_ what I call a party! Welcome to the team, Christine.” Jake gave Christine an encouraging clap on the back, causing Christine to hiccup violently.

“All right.” Jake smiled. “Who wants to go next?”

“Oh!” Chloe stood up and walked towards Jake. “I dare Jake to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.” 

Rich sighed. “Chloe... we really can’t bring religion into school related events. Like, we can’t keep having this conversation.”

“Fine.” Chloe rolled her eyes. “Then I dare Jake to do the cheer. Then we’ll see who’s co-captain material.”

“I think that’s a great idea!” Rich smiled- a real, genuine smiled. “Christine should see what we’re like as a team.”

Michael groaned from his spot on the beanbags. “Can’t we just have a normal sleepover?”

“This is not a normal sleepover, Michael.” Rich said admonishingly. “It’s practice in a social context.”

“Hey.” Madeline stood up and pointed to Jeremy, icy steel in her voice. “There’s no way I’m doing anything if _he’s_ the base. Everyone knows that, right?”

Jeremy tensed up as Rich looked nervously at Madeline. “It’s a new year, Madeline. I think we all owe each other a fresh start.”

Madeline scowled. “I don’t owe him _shit_! Everyone saw him drop me.” She looked over at Jeremy again. “Or do you wanna watch it again?”

“I tripped.” Jeremy couldn’t even meet Madeline’s eyes- he was looking down at his shoes. “It was an accident.”

“You were stoned.” Madeline practically spat those words.

Michael clenched his fists and glared at Madeline. “Shut up.”

Rich was desperately trying to defuse the situation before it could escalate into a full-blown fight. “Okay, everyone. Jeremy said he tripped. Bad stunts happen.”

“And you’re just gonna believe him?!” Madeline glared at Jeremy. “The whole country already knows he can’t pass a drug test.”

“Fuck you!”’ Jeremy snapped, then immediately placed his hand over his mouth as if he could take back the words with that gesture.

“I got a concussion because of you!” Madeline yelled.

“You got a contusion.” Michael said. “There’s a big difference.”

“You couldn’t even cough in the direction of a breathalyzer, Madeline.” Jake said.

“Well, at least _I’ve_ never been drunk at a game.” Madeline crossed her arms.

“Um, West High, fifth game of the season.” Rich began counting out the instances on his fingers as he spoke. “Cobalt Prep, Jackson High-“

Michael cut Rich off with an angry shout. “You’re drunk right now!”

Madeline rolled her eyes. “So I had a couple beers at a party. It’s not a fucking crime.”

“That’s literally a crime!” Michael yelled. He stalked over to Madeline so that the two of them were face to face, then turned to Rich. “This is too much. You need to kick her off the team.”

“Only the school board can do that.” Rich said.

“He could have killed me!” Madeline pointed to Jeremy, who looked more and more miserable with every passing second.

“Don’t attack him because you can’t get your shit together!” Michael snapped.

“He’s not any better!” Madeline growled. “Look at him-“

“Shut up.” Michael muttered.

“-he’s stoned, you can see that, right?” Madeline continued talking.

“I said _shut up_!” Michael reached out and grabbed Madeline by the arms. He was about to shove her when Rich came in between them, pushing them apart.

“Michael!” Rich yelled. “Take a walk!” 

There was a moment of stunned silence before Rich repeated himself.

“Take a walk, Michael.”

Michael stormed over to his bag and picked it up, sparing one last look at the room around him before he ran up the stairs, slamming the basement door shut behind him. There was silence for a moment before Jeremy stood up awkwardly. 

“I’ll... talk to him.”

With that, Jeremy ran up the stairs after his best friend. 

Chloe glared at Madeline. “Thanks a lot.”

Madeline threw her hands up in the air. “What did I do?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I had way too much fun writing this chapter, can you tell


	4. #SkypeTomorrow

Michael wasn’t even sure where he thought he was going. He just wanted to get out of that basement. It seemed like anger was the only thing fueling him as he stormed out the front door of Rich’s house, down the porch steps, and out onto the lawn, stopping in the middle of the grass.

In pure frustration, he clenched his fists and let out an angry scream. He didn’t care if anyone heard him- he could have just woken up the whole damn neighborhood, for all he cared. The only thing on his mind was how much he _hated_ being on this stupid cheer team. The only reason he even put up with those kids to begin with was Jeremy- who would be gone in a year, anyways.

The sun had already set, meaning that, save for a single streetlight, it was pitch black. As the sound of his scream faded into the cool night air, an uncomfortable silence set in. 

Michael looked around, searching for anyone else who might have been around. From somewhere off in the distance, he could hear the sound of an empty swing creaking slightly as the wind pushed it. The eerie noise send a shiver down Michael’s spine. The darkness and silence seemed to be growing thicker by the minute...

Until a shout broke through the quiet air. “Michael!”

The sudden noise made Michael jump, but he quickly reoriented himself when he recognized the voice. He turned around to see Jeremy jogging up to him, holding a drawstring bag in one hand. “Oh. It’s just you. You scared the shit out of me.”

“Of course it’s me.” Jeremy said. “I couldn’t let you leave on your own.”

“Good.” Michael shifted his backpack on his shoulder. “‘Cause we _are_ leaving.”

“Can we talk?” Jeremy asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Michael didn’t respond. He didn’t know how.

Jeremy sighed. “I made a mistake last year. That was my fault. And I have to earn their trust back, just like I had to earn yours.”

Michael bit his lip. What Madeline had said back in the basement, about Jeremy being stoned... “But... you are okay, right?”

“It’s okay.” Jeremy said, almost too quickly. “I’m fine.”

“Then let’s go.” Michael said. “Before something happens and...” His voice trailed off before he could say what he was thinking.

“And what?” Jeremy asked.

“...and you do something stupid.” Michael sighed.

A hurt expression crossed Jeremy’s face. “If I tell you I’m okay, you have to believe me.”

“I do.” Michael said. “And I want you to stay that way. There’s all this pressure on you, everyone’s expecting something from you, I don’t want you to fall back into your old habits.”

“You don’t think I’m strong enough?”

“No, no!” Michael shook his head. “It’s not that. It’s just... I...” Michael couldn’t possibly find the right words to say how he really felt. “I care about you too much to see you hurt yourself like this. So let’s go! We don’t even _like_ them.”

“I don’t do this for them, Michael!” Jeremy said. After a moment, his voice got quieter. “I was supposed to be the face of the nation. I’m not going to be the guy who was too broken for high school cheerleading. If you hate this team so much, why don’t you just go back to gymnastics?”

The very suggestion was enough to make Michael balk. “Not without you.”

“You can do things on your own, you know.” Jeremy smiled slightly. “You’re so good at it.”

Michael shook his head. “It’s our last year together, I’m not spending it without you.”

“Mike, I’m going to college.” Jeremy said. “I’m not dying. In another year, you’ll be there too.”

“What if I don’t?” Michael knew he was rambling, but the words were coming out faster than he could stop them. He wasn’t even thinking- it was like his emotions were pouring out of a faucet that he couldn’t stop. “What if something happens and I don’t get in? You know I’m not as smart as you-“

“Mike, you’ll be fine.” Jeremy said. “You’re smarter than you think. And I’ll be here for you every step of the way.”

“But you won’t be.” Michael said. “You’ll be off at college, doing... life. What if you-“

“It doesn’t matter where we are.” Jeremy smiled. “You’re my best friend, dude. Whatever happens, nothing’s gonna change that.”

Michael didn’t even know how to respond to that. He sighed and sat down on the porch steps, a gesture Jeremy followed. 

“I promise.” Jeremy said.

“Oh, you promise, huh?” Michael gave a bitter laugh that came out sounding more like a suppressed sob. “You know, promises don’t mean shit if you can’t keep them.”

“I mean it, Mike. I’m not lying.” 

“You _think_ you’re not lying, but when you leave for college, you’re going to forget I ever existed.” Michael said.

“Dude, that is so not true. I already told you, I’m gonna Skype you, like, every day. We can even play World of Warcraft together online. It’ll be like I’m not even gone.” Jeremy was smiling- he seemed so convinced of what he was saying. Of their friendship.

“You’re gonna make new friends while you’re there.” Michael said. “And then you’ll start making excuses. You had a lot of homework. You needed to study for a test. And you’ll stop calling every day. You’ll start calling every week. And then every month. And then you’ll stop calling altogether and just start texting. And soon you won’t come home from winter break- hell, even summer break.”

Michael was starting to cry now. God, Jeremy could not see that he was crying. In a piss-poor effort to hide the tears, he turned his back to Jeremy. 

“Michael-“ 

Michael cut Jeremy off. “If you’re going to say I’m exaggerating or thinking of the worst-case scenario, I’m not. I have two older sisters, remember? You’re not the first person to lie to me.” Michael’s voice broke, and he didn’t even try to hide it. “Don’t be like that, man.”

Jeremy didn’t say anything. It was like Michael was talking to empty air. But he kept talking anyway.

“I’m going to miss you, okay? I know I act like an asshole sometimes, but I’m gonna fucking _miss_ you, dammit. You were the only person, the _only_ person who wanted to be friends with me. And I-“

Michael couldn’t finish his sentence. He’d been pouring his heart out, but there was one thing he just couldn’t say. One thing that had to stay secret. 

Michael opened his mouth to say more, but he was cut off by Jeremy hugging him from behind. A startled noise escaped Michael’s mouth- not so much out of shock as out of surprise. Jeremy had never been the hugging type.

“Hey, Michael, listen to me.” Jeremy said. “I’m _not_ going to leave you. I’m not gonna forget you. We are going to be fine. Remember? Life’s a two-player game. I’m always gonna be your player two.” 

“Sorry I...” Michael bit his lip. “I kinda just broke down on you, huh?”

Jeremy shook his head. “Nah. It’s great, actually. I made a bet with Jake that he’d give me fifty bucks if I got video footage of you showing an emotion other than rage.”

Michael whipped around. “You did what?!”

Jeremy doubled over laughing. “I’m kidding!”

Michael rolled his eyes and shoved Jeremy playfully. “You’re a fucking jerk, man.”

“I got you to smile!” Jeremy beamed, looking incredibly proud of himself. “Mission accomplished. I’ll take my medal now, thank you very much.”

“Oh, ha-ha.” Michael stood up, dusting off his jeans. “I guess we should get back inside, then.”

“Oh.” Jeremy almost looked surprised at that suggestion- as if that wasn’t what he’d been trying to get Michael to do. “You go on in. I’m gonna take a breather. Just tell them I’ll be right there.”

“What?” Michael blinked. “The whole reason you came out here was to get me to go back inside.”

“Yeah, I just need a moment.” Jeremy said.

“Are you okay?” Michael asked.

Jeremy nodded, almost too quickly. “Yeah.”

“You know you can talk to me, right?”

“Michael, I’m fine. I just need a minute to myself, alright?” As he spoke, Jeremy’s hand moved over the drawstring bag on his lap- almost protectively. Almost as if he was hiding something.

Michael looked down at the bag. “What’s in your bag?” 

Jeremy followed Michael’s gaze down to the bag. “Nothing.” His face, however, said otherwise.

“Jeremy, what’s in your bag?” Michael repeated.

“It’s none of your business!” Jeremy snapped. 

That was the last straw. Michael reached for the bag. “Give it to me.”

Jeremy stood up and stepped back, holding the bag protectively. “Michael, stop.”

“Give it to me!” Michael reached out and grabbed the bag, which caused Jeremy to attempt to pull it back.

“Stop!”

After a moment, Michael managed to pull the bag out of Jeremy’s grasp. He began to open it, silently praying for it to just be a misunderstanding. 

Michael’s heart sunk as he pulled an orange bottle of pills out of the bag. The tablets clattered against the plastic, creating a rattling sound. 

Jeremy had lied to him.

“They’re for my knee.” Jeremy said defensively- but his words were so shaky that he may as well have not said anything at all.

Michael could barely find the words. “Jeremy, we’ll start over-“

Jeremy stepped back, almost fearfully. “No.”

“You are so much _better_ than this-“

“No!” Tears were welling up in Jeremy’s eyes as he spoke. “I’m not, Michael!” After a moment, he weakly said, “I’m sorry. But I’m not.”

Michael’s ears were ringing. He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry. Finally, he shoved the pills into Jeremy’s hands. “You had one person left who believed in you.” As he stomped towards the door, he realized he was still holding Jeremy’s bag. He turned around to face Jeremy, and their eyes met. Jeremy looked absolutely crushed, and Michael felt so bad about what he’d said. But his anger overtook him, and he threw the bag down on the ground. “One.”

With that, he opened the door and stormed inside. He didn’t even close it behind him.

Jeremy clutched the pill bottle to his chest like it was an anchor. A towline. 

“You and your boyfriend fighting?” 

Jeremy looked up to see Madeline, who was holding a flask in one hand. 

“Michael isn’t my boyfriend-“ Jeremy’s eyes widened as he realized that Madeline had overheard at least part of that conversation. “Wait, how did you-“

Madeline shrugged. “Back door.”

Jeremy almost said something, like, _”Hey, maybe don’t eavesdrop on private conversations”_ but he stopped himself. Madeline overhearing personal details of his life was incredibly low on the list of things he needed to be worried about right now. “Fine. What are you doing here?”

“Running away from my problems.” Madeline sat down next to Jeremy on the steps, taking a swig from her flask. “So, why is Little Mister Olympics so down on himself.”

Jeremy scoffed. “You don’t know me. Don’t pretend like you care.” 

“You don’t think I know what it’s like?” Madeline spoke with a surprising gentleness. “I know better than anyone. You’re back on your pills, huh?”

“You can’t call me out on them when you’re drunk out of your mind.” Jeremy said.

Madeline sighed. “Chloe used to try and get me to stop.”

“Michael did too.” Jeremy nodded. “When he first caught me taking them, he started crying and begging me to get help. I told him I would.”

“But you didn’t.”

“But I didn’t.” Jeremy put his head in his hands. “I hate myself.”

Madeline laughed bitterly. “Join the club, _compadre_.”

Jeremy watched Madeline take another sip from the flask- which probably didn’t contain Kool-Aid. “Why do you do that to yourself? You’re fifteen. You have your whole life ahead of you.”

“It’s just a vice.” Madeline said. “Don’t lecture me.”

“You’re only hurting yourself.” Jeremy said.

“I could stop if I wanted to.” Madeline snapped. “I just... choose not to.” As she said those words, tears began to form in her eyes. “God, I’m so fucked up, aren’t I?”

Jeremy and Madeline had never been close- especially not after he’d dropped her last year. But looking at her crying, he felt so _bad_ for her. She was so young. She didn’t deserve this.

“Hey. Why don’t you go inside and get sobered up?” Jeremy put a hand on Madeline’s shoulder.

Despite her tears, Madeline scoffed. “You can’t tell me what to do. You’re not my mother.”

“At least go to the bathroom so you don’t throw up on Rich’s lawn.” Jeremy said. 

“Fine.” Madeline stood up, wobbling slightly as she did so. “I’ll go.” 

Before Madeline reached the door, however, she turned. “Hey, Jeremy?”

“Yeah?” Jeremy looked over his shoulder.

“If I’m going to sober up, you have to, too.” Madeline said.

Jeremy sighed. “Go inside, Madeline. I’ll be right there. I promise.”

Madeline glared at Jeremy, but did as she was told. The door closed softly behind her, and finally, Jeremy was alone. 

_That girl will be the death of me._

The sound of the back door opening from the side of the house got Jeremy’s attention. 

“Five more minutes, okay?” Jeremy called out.

There was no response.

Frantically, Jeremy shoved the pill bottle into the drawstring bag, which he threw behind the bushes that lined the wall of Rich’s house. He’d go back to get them later. 

He waited for someone to appear- maybe Jake, with a characteristic sarcastic remark. Or maybe Rich, with his thinly veiled anxiety behind a mask of cheeriness. But no one came.

Curious, Jeremy stood up and walked along the wall of the house, towards where he knew the back door was. All the sounds of the night- crickets, cicadas, frogs -seemed to grow louder as he looked around in confusion. “Hello?”

As if in response, the loud sound of a barking dog tore through the silence. Jeremy jumped, letting out a yell of surprise, before he realized that it was just Rich’s neighbor’s dog. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart as he turned around to head back inside.

Instead of the front porch, however, Jeremy saw a figure standing before him. They were backlit by the lights from the house, so he couldn’t see their face- but what he _could_ see was a knife. A knife that the figure thrust forward into Jeremy’s abdomen. 

Jeremy screamed as the weapon entered his body. The pain was white-hot, unlike anything he had ever experienced before. The figure pulled the knife out, causing another flash of pain, before plunging it in again. 

Jeremy stumbled back and fell into the bushes, spawning as blood poured out of the wound on his stomach, staining his shirt. His vision was almost entirely white- he could only make out the figure who had stabbed him as they pulled the knife out of his stomach. Now, so close to the house, Jeremy could see their face. He opened his mouth to say something, but instead he fell limp, sprawled across the ground.

He was dead.

The figure moved his body somewhat, mostly concealing him behind the bushes. It would be impossible to see him unless you were really looking. 

They looked down at the knife in their hand, which was red with blood. 

There was no going back now.

_One down, one to go._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> someone wanted to see if Jeremy was made of cake 😳


	5. #CoupleGoals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternative title: local lesbians are fucking horny™️

Ok, so, _technically_ , Chloe wasn’t supposed to have her phone. But in the chaos that had followed after Jeremy and Michael left, no one had noticed when she snuck her hand into the basket that Rich had made them place all their phones into and grabbed her own phone out of the mix. 

At least she had a good reason for it, though! She was only texting Brooke. It wasn’t like she was using it to buy drugs off of eBay or something horrible like that.

Her home screen displayed another text- one that had been sent a whole hour ago.

_Brookie 💕: how’s it going? miss u 🥺❤️_

Chloe smiled at the sight of her girlfriend’s name on the screen, as well as the combination of emojis that Brooke had used. She was beginning to type out a response, but the sound of someone’s voice from behind cut her off.

“I could’ve used your help.”

Chloe turned around to see Madeline standing behind her with her arms crossed, a mixture of drunk, angry, and sad. After a moment, Madeline sighed. 

“I’m sorry, okay. I just thought... I didn’t think.”

Chloe scoffed and turned back to her phone. “Yeah. That’s not new.”

“Could you put Brooke away and look at me?” Madeline asked, a surprising softness in her voice. 

“I need a second.” Chloe said.

“Chloe, please.” Madeline reached out and grabbed Chloe’s phone, attempting to tug it out of Chloe’s hands.

“Hey!” Chloe tried to pull her phone back. “Madeline, stop!”

“Just-“ 

Before Madeline could finish her sentence, Chloe pulled back and yanked it out of her stepsister’s hands. However, she did so with so much force that she stumbled backwards, hitting the wall. The collision caused her to drop her phone, which fell and hit the hardwood floor with a crack. 

Madeline’s eyes widened. “Shit.”

Before Chloe could even do anything, Madeline bent down and picked the phone up off the floor. A spiderweb of cracks covered the screen, which was entirely black. Despite this, Madeline began fiddling with the home button, as if she could magic the phone back to life. 

“I’m... I’m sure it just needs a minute.” Madeline said. “You could put it in rice, maybe. I hear that works sometimes-“

“Stop!” Chloe yanked her broken phone out of Madeline’s hands, so suddenly it caused Madeline to give a yelp of surprise.

Madeline’s brow furrowed. “You weren’t even supposed to have your phone. You broke the rule!”

“You’re not supposed to be drunk, Madeline!” All the anger that had been building up inside Chloe all day suddenly came pouring out. It was like a faucet with a broken pump- she couldn’t stop talking. “You’re not supposed to be living in my house! I’m not supposed to be wasting all my time babysitting a stupid child!” 

Those words felt awful to say- like poison flowing out of her mouth. But it felt _good_ to get rid of them.

Madeline blinked before looking down at her shoes, seemingly unable to make eye contact with Chloe. “I’m sorry. I want to be a good sister.”

Was that _really_ all Madeline could say right now? That she _wanted_ to be a good sister? She may have wanted it, sure, but she sure as heck wasn’t trying very hard to achieve it. Chloe narrowed her eyes. “You are _not_ my sister.”

With that, she stomped off, barely even noticing the look of hurt on Madeline’s face. As she stormed into the kitchen, the guilt began to gnaw at her. 

_I shouldn’t have said that._

But what was she going to do now? She couldn’t just turn around and say _”Sorry, Madeline! Didn’t really mean that!_ ” Besides, she was still angry at Madeline. If she went back to apologize now, she would probably just end up blowing up again and making the whole situation worse. And that was the last thing she needed.

She’d apologize later, she resolved. After she’d cooled down, and after she’d gotten this whole mess with her phone sorted out. 

Sighing, Chloe reached for the light switch and flicked it upwards. To her surprise, the lights didn’t come on. Even more alarming, there was a strange thumping sound coming from somewhere across the room.

_Oh my gosh._

_What if it’s a rat? ___

__Cautiously, Chloe crept through the darkened kitchen and towards the source of the noise. It was pitch black, and to make matters worse, she couldn’t even use her phone flashlight to light her way._ _

___Thanks a bunch, Madeline._ _ _

__After walking around the island, Chloe was able to locate the source of the noise. It seemed to be coming from the pantry. Holding her breath, Chloe opened the pantry door and looked inside..._ _

__Nothing. Not even a rat._ _

__Chloe breathed a sigh of relief as she closed the pantry door. Of _course_ there wasn’t anything in there. Had she actually thought that a person (or a rat) had snuck into Rich’s house and hid in the pantry just to scare her?_ _

__Her thoughts were interrupted by a pair of arms wrapping around her from behind as a chipper female voice broke the silence. “Hey!”_ _

__Chloe did what any reasonable person in her situation would do- she began screaming her head off._ _

__“Woah, woah, woah!” The voice’s tone changed from chipper to panicked as Chloe screamed. “It’s just me! It’s just me!”_ _

__The mystery person reached out and flicked the light switch, illuminating the room- how come it worked for _them_? -and spun Chloe around so that she could see them. As soon as her eyes adjusted to the light, Chloe saw a familiar Black girl standing in front of her with a wide smile on her face. _ _

__“Brooke?” Chloe’s eyes widened. “What are you doing here?”_ _

__“You left your night guard in my car!” Brooke reached into her cardigan pocket and pulled out a pink retainer case, one that had Chloe’s name written on it in cursive and was decorated with stickers. She waved the case around excitedly as she spoke. “I crawled through an open window in one of the bedrooms.”_ _

__“Did anyone see you?” Chloe asked. She didn’t want the cops to show up and have to explain to them (and her teammates) that the girl breaking and entering hadn’t been a burglar or an ax murderer, but just a well-meaning girlfriend trying to return a night guard._ _

__Brooke looked almost offended that Chloe was even suggesting she was anything but a master of stealth. “No. I’m a ninja.” She waved her arms around in a poor imitation of karate chops. “Kachow!”_ _

__Chloe didn’t have the heart to tell her girlfriend that ‘kachow’ was something Lightning McQueen said, not ninjas. Instead, she grabbed the case out of Brooke’s hand and set it down on the kitchen counter, smiling at how lucky she was to have such a caring girlfriend. “You shouldn’t be here.”_ _

__Brooke pouted and gave Chloe sad puppy-dog eyes. “Aw, but your night guard.”_ _

__Chloe giggled and playfully tapped the end of Brooke’s nose. “I think I could have survived one night without it. C’mon, Berry Boo. What’s the _real_ reason you’re here?”_ _

__Brooke put her hands up. “Okay, okay! You caught me.” She sighed. “You stopped texting me. I had to make sure everything was okay.”_ _

__Chloe frowned and held up her broken phone, showing it to Brooke. “Courtesy of Madeline.” She set the phone down on the counter and rubbed her temples. “She’s driving me crazy, Berry Boo. Actually crazy.”_ _

__Brooke looked down at the counter, and her eyes landed on a kitchen knife that was out in the open for whatever reason. Frowning at its misplacement, she picked it up and fiddled with it absentmindedly for a few seconds before returning it to the knife rack. “I don’t want to talk about Madeline. You can’t let her get to you like this, Cupcake.”_ _

__Chloe sighed. “You’re right. As always.” She looked down at the pink retainer case, and she couldn’t stop a smile from creeping onto her mouth. “I’m really so honored that you care so much about my dental health, Berry Boo, but you have to go.”_ _

__“Ok.” Brooke looked up at her girlfriend with a mischievous smile. “But... one kiss before I go?”_ _

__Chloe laughed. “Brooke...”_ _

__Brooke took something out of her pocket and held it up between her and Chloe- a Hershey’s kiss. Both of them smiled as they giggled at the pun, before Brooke dropped the chocolate onto the ground as Chloe pulled her in for a long, fierce kiss. Chloe even let her phone drop out of her hand and onto the floor- at this point, she couldn’t really break it more, could she? After what felt like an eternity of only being aware of the sensation of Brooke’s lips on her own, she pulled away, if only because her lungs were screaming for air._ _

__“This isn’t right.” As Chloe spoke, Brooke grabbed her hand, trailing kisses up Chloe’s arm and towards her neck. “I’m supposed to be dedicating my energy to the betterment of the school, and the community, and the...” Chloe let a small moan escape her mouth as Brooke’s lips reached her neck. “ _Stuff_.”_ _

__Chloe shook her head, pulling away from Brooke. Brooke, while looking slightly disappointed, didn’t try to pull Chloe back into the kiss- she just stood there holding Chloe’s hand and looking at Chloe like she was the most beautiful thing in the world._ _

__“You have to go.” Chloe looked at Brooke._ _

__“I’ll go when they find me and kick me out.” Brooke said._ _

__Chloe furrowed her brow. “And you’ll get me kicked off the squad.”_ _

__Brooke shook her head. “No I won’t. This team needs you. You’re the best they have.”_ _

__With her free hand, Chloe reached up and twirled a strand of her hair in an act of false modesty. “I’m fine.” She batted her eyes. “I’m not the _best_...”_ _

__Brooke smiled and leaned in to kiss Chloe’s forehead. “Well, _I_ think you’re the best.”_ _

__Chloe sighed. “What did I do to deserve you?”_ _

__“That’s funny. I was thinking the same thing.” Brooke wrapped her arms around Chloe._ _

__“Berry Boo?”_ _

__“Hmm?”_ _

__Chloe smiled. “I want to be with you forever.”_ _

__“Me too, Cupcake.” Brooke kissed Chloe on the cheek. “Forever and ever.”_ _

__Chloe bit her lip. Suddenly, something Jake had said back in the basement was coming back to her. “Brooke?”_ _

__“Yeah?”_ _

__“Do you ever think about...” Chloe lowered her voice to a whisper, as if someone else would overhear her. “Having sex?”_ _

__Brooke’s brow furrowed. “What makes you say that?”_ _

__“Well, Jake asked me if I was a virgin, and when I said I was, Michael was all ‘ _come on, you and Brooke have been together for six years_ ’...”_ _

__“I thought you wanted to wait until we were married.” Brooke said._ _

__“I do!” Chloe said. “And I’m so glad you’re respecting that. It’s just... I’m worried...”_ _

__“Worried about what?” Brooke asked._ _

__“I’m worried you’ll get sick of waiting and find someone else.” Chloe sighed._ _

__“Cupcake, I’m never gonna get sick of you.” Brooke smiled. “As long as you want to wait, I’ll wait with you.”_ _

__“Brooke...” Chloe was trying not to cry, but she couldn’t help but tear up a bit. She really did have the best girlfriend ever._ _

__“I love you, Chloe.” Brooke pushed a strand of Chloe’s hair behind her ear. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Brooke spun Chloe around to face her. “Because you’ve always been with me, and I want to be with you.” She got down on one knee, cupping Chloe’s hand in her own. “And I know this is really sudden, like, I don’t even have a ring or anything, but I know that this is what I want to do. Will you marry me?”_ _

__Chloe smiled and opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, she heard Jake’s voice from down the hall. “Chloe! You in there?”_ _

__Brooke and Chloe shared a terrified look._ _

__“Get out!” Chloe whisper-yelled._ _

__Brooke scrambled to her feet and ran to the door, but quickly ducked back inside. “He’s coming, he’s coming!”_ _

__“Hide!” Chloe’s eyes widened. The two of them scrambled around frantically until Chloe’s eyes landed on the pantry door. “In here!”_ _

__Brooke sprinted inside the pantry, barely making it inside before Chloe closed the door and leaned up against it. As Jake entered, Chloe began playing with her hair as casually as possible._ _

__Jake looked at Chloe, then eyed the empty kitchen suspiciously. “Who were you talking to?”_ _

__“No one!” Chloe chirped. “I was just... praying!” She clasped her hands together and looked up at the ceiling, as if she were actually praying. “Dear Lord, please bless this team with a great, safe year-“_ _

__“Can you ask Daddy for the strength to go back downstairs, too?” Jake cut Chloe off with a heavy dose of snark in his voice. “Rich is trying to teach the new cheer and everyone’s disappeared.”_ _

__Brooke must have moved inside the pantry, because both Jake and Chloe heard the sound of something falling to the ground. Chloe leaned back up against the door, crossing her arms as Jake narrowed his eyes._ _

__“Have you seen Madeline?” Jake leaned onto the counter. “She raiding Rich’s liquor cabinet again?”_ _

__“What?” Chloe waved her hand dismissively. “Pfft, no.” She opened the pantry door, causing Brooke to stumble back, and stuck her head inside. “Madeline?”_ _

__Jake attempted to look around Chloe, but before he could get a clear view, Chloe ripped a bag of Skinny Pop popcorn off the shelf and closed the door again, waving the bag in the air like a flag._ _

__“Not in there!” She shrugged. “Nothing but snacks.”_ _

__Before Jake could continue interrogating Chloe, she was saved by the bell. Literally, saved by the bell- the doorbell rang._ _

__“Oh!” Chloe laughed nervously. “Better get that.”_ _

__“Oh!” Jake mimicked Chloe’s exact tone of voice. “Better join me!”_ _

__Jake turned and exited the kitchen, leaving Chloe with little choice but to follow. As she walked after him, she grabbed her phone and her night guard off the counter, casting one last glance at the pantry before leaving._ _

__In the hallway, Chloe struggled to keep up with Jake, who seemed to be walking two steps for every one she took. “Were you expecting anyone?”_ _

__“I don’t know, Chloe.” Chloe could practically hear the eye-roll in Jake’s voice as he spoke. “Did you finally summon the Messiah?”_ _

__“Jake, that’s not-“ Chloe paused as she mentally replayed everything she’d ever learned from Vacation Bible School in her head. “-likely.”_ _

__Jake shook his head and opened the door. On the other side of it was a bored-looking Asian boy in a red pizza delivery uniform, holding out a pizza box as if he’d done this a million times before. Which he probably had. “One gluten-free cheese.”_ _

__Jake looked over his shoulder at Chloe. “Who’s gluten-free?”_ _

__“Me.” Chloe said. “And Jeremy. And Michael. And Rich. And Madeline can’t have processed sugar.”_ _

__“Forget I asked.” Jake turned back around and took the pizza box from the delivery boy. As the boy turned to leave, Jake called out after him, stopping him in his tracks. “Hey, do I know you?”_ _

__The boy blinked. “I don’t think so. Unless you order an obscene amount of pizza, and even then, I think I’d recognize you.”_ _

__Jake rolled his eyes, but stopped as he suddenly seemed to realize who he was talking to. “Wait a second.” He snapped his fingers. “West High! You’re their flyer. Dustin, right?”_ _

__“Oh, yeah!” Dustin nodded. “Do you guys come to our games, or...”_ _

__“We’ve lost to you a bunch of times!” Chloe piped up. Both Jake and Dustin looked awkwardly at Jake’s shirt, which was black with the word ‘TIGERS’ in orange letters across the front. Suddenly, Chloe and Jake didn’t look too proud to be Tigers._ _

__Dustin cleared his throat and attempted to ease the tension. “You know, honestly, at this point we are rooting for you guys. Just to score any amount of points.”_ _

__“That’s very kind.” Jake said, but his tone of voice said otherwise._ _

__“And that video...” Dustin shook his head. “It wasn’t fair. We all make a couple wrong moves.”_ _

__“Sure.” Jake looked like he would rather be anywhere else at the moment._ _

__Dustin was seemingly oblivious to Jake and Chloe’s discomfort. “We all fall out of our formation sometimes.”_ _

__“Yeah.” Chloe nodded uncomfortably._ _

__Jake legitimately felt bad for Dustin- the poor dude was trying desperately to be nice. “We all break a couple of bones-“_ _

__Quickly and defensively, Chloe jumped in. “It was just a minor head injury, actually! So everything’s fine. We’re doing great.”_ _

__Dustin’s face turned bright red as he realized that he’d just made a massive fool of himself. He stepped back, clearly embarrassed. “Well... it was nice to officially meet you.”_ _

__“Yeah, well, I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon.” Jake reached into his pocket and put a five-dollar bill into Dustin’s hand. “Keep the change.”_ _

__With that, Jake shut the door in Dustin’s face, putting an end to everyone’s misery. Sighing, Dustin turned and walked back to his car._ _

__He did _not_ get paid enough for this job._ _


	6. #CaptainOfTheTeam

When Jake and Chloe returned to the basement, things were going about as well as one would expect from this team. Which was to say- not very well.

Rich was sitting in the center of the couch, his back ramrod straight as he flipped through an old photo album. Christine sat beside him, swaying side to side. Her eyes looked like they were starting to gloss over- probably from the alcohol she’d drunk earlier.

 _Okay, in retrospect, getting the freshman drunk may not have been my best idea._ Jake thought to himself as he watched Christine, who, despite her less-than-sober state, seemed to be hanging on to Rich’s every word as he spoke. Jenna was sitting on one of the armchairs, watching the two of them with a forlorn expression.

“So, for home games, we wear orange uniforms.” He pointed to a picture, and Christine nodded along. “And for away games, we wear black uniforms.”

Christine scrunched up her nose in confusion. “Why?”

“It’s just a tradition.” Rich said, a kind of dreamy look in his eyes. “Years and years, all passed down to us.”

“That’s... so cool!” Christine giggled, her words slurring together as she spoke.

 _Okay, getting the freshman drunk was definitely not my best idea. Noted._ Jake sighed, though apparently not audibly enough for a Rich to comment on it.

Rich handed the photo album to Christine, who immediately started flipping through it with deep interest. “And it’s our job to keep the tradition alive, okay?” He looked up, his eyes landing on Jake. “Oh. I didn’t see you guys come in.”

Jake shook his head, laughing slightly at his friend. “Hey, Rich, you are never gonna believe who just dropped off our pizza. Who’s your favorite person in the world?”

Rich gasped. “Meryl Streep?”

Jake blinked, confused. “Try again.”

“Uh, Jake Gyllenhaal?”

“No!” Jake wondered how the _hell_ Rich had gotten a 1340 on the SAT when he was so _fucking_ stupid sometimes.

“Uh...” Rich bit his lip, as if he were deep in thought. “Dustin Kropp?”

Jake nodded, setting the pizza box down on the coffee table. “In all his pizza-godlike-glory.”

“He should have come in!” Rich stood up from his spot on the couch. “We could have introduced ourselves.”

“Oh, he knows who we are.” Chloe piped up. “Believe me.”

“Christine, here.” Rich had already turned to grab a MacBook from under the coffee table, which he opened as he sat back down on the couch. “Dustin is the highest ranked flyer in the state. He’s captain of the West High Titans cheer team, and he has a job- probably to support his family, which is admirable. Responsibility is key to being a good captain, not only on a cheer team, but in life.”

He turned the laptop towards Christine, allowing her and Jake to see that he’d pulled up a YouTube video of the West High team doing a stunt at a cheer competition. As he hit play, Rich pointed to one of the flyers, who was being tossed up in the air by his teammates. “That’s Dustin.”

Christine watched the video, entirely captivated by the image. Jake, on the other hand... he was more focused on Rich. And on the jealousy that gripped his whole body when he saw the starstruck look on Rich’s face.

In an effort to distract himself, Jake grabbed a piece of pizza out of the box and took a bite. It was barely edible- ugh, was this what gluten-free pizza tasted like? How did people actually _eat_ this shit? But even the cardboard-like pizza didn’t taste bad enough to make him stop caring about the way Rich looked when he talked about Dustin.

As soon as the video was done, Rich immediately looked over at Christine and smiled. “Isn’t he _awesome_?” 

And that was the last straw for Jake. “Dude, please stop thirsting. If you’re gonna ask him to Homecoming, just do it.”

Rich scoffed. “Jake, I do not have a crush on Dustin Kropp.”

“Uh-huh.” Jake nodded sarcastically. “Dude, even Meryl Streep can see it from wherever the hell she is.”

“Jake...” Rich gave his friend an exasperated look. “I simply admire his leadership abilities and talents. There’s nothing more to it.”

“Sure.” Jake rolled his eyes. He hated it, but it made him feel a little bit better to take that dig at Rich. At least now, Rich knew exactly what Jake thought of his crush on Dustin.

Well, not _exactly_.

Before Rich could continue the conversation further, Christine suddenly shut Rich’s laptop screen, drawing the attention of both Rich and Jake. “Rich, do you think... _I_ could be captain one day?”

Rich and Jake shared an awkward look before Rich cleared his throat. “ _Well_...” He looked around desperately, as if hoping one of his teammates would jump in or at least have some idea of what he should say. No such luck. All Jake, Jenna, and Chloe could offer were shrugs. “Sure, Christine! I believe everyone here has the potential to be a leader, if it’s important to them.”

At that, Jenna perked up slightly. Nobody noticed her change in body language, however. They were too busy watching as Christine smiled and straightened her posture, bringing herself up to her fullest height, which wasn’t a whole lot. “I think I could be a great captain!”

“You don’t just have to _think_ you’d be a great captain.” Rich said. “You have to show your team that you’ve really earned it. You have to put the work in.”

Christine nodded. “I will! I promise.”

Smiling, Rich leaned down and pulled a pair of black, white, and orange pom poms from beneath the coffee table. Christine set the laptop to the side, watching intently as Rich stood up. “Now, Christine, why don’t we take a look at some of the basic tenets of being a Tiger?”

From her spot in the armchair, Jenna watched as Rich began to ramble on. She wasn’t necessarily focused on Rich- her eyes were on Christine, who practically had stars in her eyes as she watched Rich talk.

 _It must be nice being her._ Jenna thought. _Having the best four years of your life right in front of you._

“When we’re playing home games, it’s equally important that we keep up the same level of spirit that we do at away games.” Rich said to an enraptured Christine. “Some people think that just because we’re on our own turf, it means we can lose some of that enthusiasm. And that’s definitely not true.”

Jenna remembered being in Christine’s shoes four years ago. She’d been a shy little freshman who wanted nothing more than to be on the cheer team, to be just like the cheerleaders she saw on her favorite TV shows. But nonstop trips to the gym and diet fads she saw in magazines couldn’t get her on the team. That, it seemed, was an unattainable goal.

She sighed, silently hoping that someone would hear her displeasure and ask her about it. But nobody did. Obviously. No one on this team ever paid attention to her.

“But, when we’re at away games, of course, there is an expectation to have an even more heightened level of awareness of the necessity of our presence.” Rich said. “Those boys out there need us to remind them that even on enemy soil, there are people out there rooting for them. We’re all they’ve got. We’re the lifeline between the team and the school.”

“Hey, Rich-“ Jenna spoke up, but she only managed to get those two words out before she was cut off.

“You make us sound way too prestigious.” Jake scoffed. “We’re literally just gymnasts in uniforms who have the added benefit of sometimes getting Kool-Aid during games.”

Rich gave his friend a warning look. “Jake...”

Jenna watched the two of them bicker like an old married couple. Normally, that was amusing. But right now? Not so much. 

_You literally wanted to be on the team so badly that you decided to be what’s essentially a glorified furry._ Jenna scoffed at herself. _No wonder you’re the laughingstock of the team._

And she _knew_ she had what it took, too. She knew every cheer. Just because she was stuck in some stupid fursuit didn’t mean she didn’t know what she was doing. She could blow them all out of the water if she just had the _chance_.

But she was never going to get that chance. She wasn’t cheerleader material. She wasn’t a perfect skinny girl with the perfect body to fit into a cheer uniform. That had been made abundantly clear to her over the years. Even in elementary school, she was teased on the playground for being fat. Girls like her didn’t get to be on the front lines, cheering to the whole school. Girls like her weren’t on the cover of the yearbook. People didn’t invite girls like her to their parties or ask them to prom.

Girls like her were stuck on the sidelines in a miserable, hot, sweaty tiger costume. 

“High school will hurt.” Rich was pacing back and forth along the length of the basement as he spoke. “Your romantic partners will break up with you. Your parents will fight, you’ll fail your classes.” 

Jake and Chloe exchanged looks of mild concern. Woah, when _Jake and Chloe_ agreed over something, that was pretty much on the level of a Waffle House closing. It basically meant the apocalypse was coming.

Rich was oblivious to his teammates’ reactions. “But when you’re a Tiger? Your team won’t let you fall.” He stopped pacing and smiled, gesturing to his t-shirt, which was white with an orange tiger on the front. “This uniform is a promise to protect your team, and it’s a promise they’ll protect you. And anybody who breaks that promise breaks us. As your captain, I find that kind of behavior absolutely unacceptable. That field is an escape from the world, and we’re lucky to call it our home.”

“Forget Dustin...” Jake muttered. “I think he wants to marry the fucking turf field.”

Jenna couldn’t help herself- she let out a giggle, which she quickly disguised as a cough when Rich looked over to her. For all of Jake’s flaws, he could be really funny sometimes.

Rich opened his mouth to say more, but stopped when he heard the sound of the basement door opening. Michael walked down the steps, not acknowledging anybody, and set his bag down on the empty armchair opposite Jenna. He was obviously angry- his whole body was stiff, he practically threw the bag down at the seat, and his hands were clenched into fists. 

“Oh.” Rich looked at Michael, then at the empty stairs, as if he’d been expecting somebody else. “Where’s Jeremy?”

“He, uh...” Michael’s voice trailed off. “He left his toothbrush in his car.”

“Next to his Vicodin?” Jake smirked, in an incredibly-self satisfied way.

Michael glowered. “Shut up, Jake. I’d like to see _your_ Olympic medal.”

Jake scoffed. “Jeremy doesn’t have any Olympic medals. Everybody here has zero medals.” He made a zero with his pointer finger and thumb, as if everybody in the room had somehow forgotten what a zero looked like.

“Actually...” Chloe twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “I placed nationally in dressage every year until I was thirteen, so...”

Jake didn’t seem impressed with Chloe’s statement. “What the fuck is a _dressage_? That’s not even a thing.”

“It’s a thing.” Rich said quickly, probably in an attempt to defuse the situation before it became a full-blown fight. “Moving on. I think we should take a look at the new cheer.” He looked over his shoulder at Jenna. “Jennie, why don’t you go find the others?”

“Or...” Jenna stood up, mustering up all her courage. “I could take Jeremy’s spot if he needs a break.”

“Oh.” Rich looked slightly uncomfortable at that suggestion. “Um, I think it’s probably best if we don’t confuse things.”

“I remember the combination from tryouts.” Jenna said, unable to stop the pleading in her voice. 

“Oh, Jennie, that’s really sweet...” Rich’s voice trailed off. “But why don’t we just get everyone down here first? Okay?”

Jenna’s shoulders slumped. She didn’t know what answer she’d been expecting. Still, she kept a smile on her face, even if it was obviously fake. “Totally. On it, Captain.”

As she ran up the stairs, Rich called up after her. “Thanks! That’s so helpful!” As soon as he turned away, however, a pained, uncomfortable look came across his face.

“Why’d you even invite her?” Jake asked.

“Well, we can’t have the Tigers without the Tiger!” Rich said defensively. “Besides, a gesture of goodwill never killed anybody.”

“Except Jesus.” Chloe chirped.

Everybody turned to look at her. The room was silent for a minute before Jake spoke up, basically summarizing what everyone was thinking. “Chloe, what the _fuck_?”

Before Chloe could respond, Christine leaned over, gripping her stomach in pain and groaning. Rich started to rush over to her, but Christine stood up and ran towards the bathroom before any of them could catch her. Apparently, the alcohol was catching up to her.

“Christine?!” Panic rose in Rich’s voice as he raced down the hallway after Christine.

“Oh no.” Chloe dashed off after Rich, leaving Michael and Jake alone in a very awkward living room. After several moments of quiet, Michael spoke up.

“Getting her drunk was a _really_ good idea.”

“Shut up.” Jake grumbled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did I say there was richjake if you squinted? yeah I fuckin lied


	7. #Wasted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warnings for some fairly(?) graphic depictions of stabbing at the end and mentions of alcohol/alcohol abuse

Madeline’s night definitely couldn’t get any worse. Case in point: at the moment, she was sprawled across the floor of one of the many bathrooms in Rich’s house, her head hung over the toilet as she vomited up everything she’d eaten or drank in the past few hours. Granted, it was mostly liquor- a _lot_ of liquor -but that didn’t make it taste any better on the way back up. Her throat burned and her eyes watered, but she couldn’t really do anything to stop it. All she could do was hold her hair back with one hand so it didn’t fall into the toilet.

“Madeline?”

Someone was calling her name, but Madeline wasn’t really preoccupied with figuring out who it was at the moment. All she could say in response was a halfhearted “Yeah?”

“Madeline?” The voice was closer this time- it sounded like it was coming from right outside the bathroom door. 

“Yeah?” Madeline repeated.

The door creaked open, but Madeline didn’t have the energy to lift her head and see who it was. Whoever the voice belonged to apparently didn’t see Madeline hunched over the toilet bowl- pretty understandable, seeing as it was pitch black inside the bathroom. Madeline hadn’t really had time to switch on the lights as she’d run in here to vomit.

The mystery person who’d just walked in had the luxury of being able to spend time fumbling for the light switch. When they finally found it and flicked it on, they got what must have been the shock of their life when the lights came on, illuminating Madeline and the whole scene before them.

“Holy shit, Madeline!”

 _Now_ Madeline recognized that voice. It was Jenna. She raised her head slightly, managing a weak smile despite feeling like absolute shit. “Surprise.”

Jenna’s eyes widened as she took in everything about Madeline’s current state. “Are you okay?”

 _Yes, Jennie, I’m perfectly fine! I’m just slumped over the toilet bowl puking my guts out for kicks._ Madeline kept all of that to herself, partly because she didn’t want to be excessively mean to Jenna, but also because she wasn’t sure how many words she could get out before she needed to throw up again. Instead, she opted to flash Jenna a sarcastic thumbs up. “Perfect.”

As it turned out, she’d been right to err on the side of using less words- as soon as that escaped her mouth, she felt a familiar churning in her stomach, bending down over the toilet once more.

Jenna’s brow furrowed with concern. “Do you need anything? Water? Somebody else to help you?”

“Nah.” Madeline shook her head. “I’m fine.” She raised her flask to her mouth and took another sip of alcohol. As soon as she swallowed it, she gagged.

“I’ll go get Chloe.” Jenna turned to leave the room, obviously uncomfortable.

Madeline gave a bitter laugh. Like _Chloe_ could help. “She hates me.”

Jenna stopped before she made it out the door, slowly turning back around to face Madeline. Rather than discomfort, a look of almost-pity had now crossed her face. “I’m sure that’s not true.”

Madeline shook her head, sighing. “Everyone hates me.”

“Well, if it’s any consolation...” Jenna sat down next to Madeline on the floor. “I don’t know you well enough to hate you.”

Despite herself, Madeline managed a small chuckle, but it quickly faded. “Well, you don’t think I should be on the team.”

“That’s not true!” Jenna put a hand on Madeline’s shoulder. “I think you’re really good.”

“Yeah, well, tell that to the three million people who only know me as _the girl who got a concussion_ on YouTube.” Madeline sniffed, blinking ferociously in a futile attempt to stop herself from crying.

“That stuff goes away eventually.” Jenna reached over and grabbed a box of tissues, handing one to Madeline. 

“I hope.” Madeline took one tissue out of the top of the box and dabbed at the corners of her eyes, trying to clean up her mascara that was now smudged from crying. “You know, I saw you at tryouts.” She looked over at Jenna. “You’re just as good as anyone else.”

Jenna gave a halfhearted chuckle. “If I was _good_ , I’d be on the team.”

“Well, maybe it’s like-“ Madeline tried to climb to her feet, but stumbled slightly in her efforts. Well, maybe _slightly_ was a bit of an understatement- she practically fell on top of poor Jenna, who had to use both her hands to push Madeline back into a standing position. Maybe Madeline had drank a little too much after all. “Maybe if you were on the team, the team would be good.” Madeline smiled. “Ever think about that?”

Jenna shook her head. “There’s no point, because it’s not true.”

Madeline wiped at the smudged mascara around her eyes some more. “Well, maybe it’s ‘cuz you’re such a good mascot.”

“Or maybe it’s because I’m not a size two.” Jenna said, bitterness and hurt tinging her voice.

“Or because you’re such a good mascot-“ Madeline was desperately trying to be nice to Jenna, but everything she said was just sounding more and more stupid. Christ, what was _wrong_ with her?

“It’s okay, Madeline.” Jenna cut Madeline off. “I really don’t expect you to understand.”

“Hey. Pretty people have problems too.”

Madeline didn’t realize the implications of her words until she saw the hurt expression on Jenna’s face. Immediately, her eyes widened. God, she just kept fucking up.

“Oh, I didn’t... Oh God, that wasn’t... Jennie-“

“My name is Jenna.” Jenna’s voice cracked slightly as she spoke, pain and embarrassment and anger all mixing together in her words. “Not _Jennie_. I thought we would have all gotten over that stupid nickname by now.”

“I’m sorry.” Madeline looked down at her feet, unable to meet Jenna’s eyes. “I won’t call you that again.”

Jenna stood up, ignoring Madeline’s apology entirely. “Well, I guess I’d better get back to the _fun_.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. As she turned to leave, Madeline called out after her.

“Hey, Jenna.” Madeline sighed. “Could you not tell anyone I’m in here? I didn’t mean to get so... fucked up.”

“Then why’d you drink so much?” Jenna didn’t even seem mad at Madeline- she just sounded defeated. Which felt a hundred times worse.

“Everyone else was?” Madeline knew that was a weak-ass answer. It was so weak, in fact, Jenna didn’t even comment. She just turned and left Madeline alone in the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

Immediately, Madeline turned to the mirror and started wiping her face with the tissue. Her reflection was blurry, and she wasn’t sure if it was because of how drunk she was or because of the tears that were welling up in her eyes.

_You’re a loser._

_You’re a lie._

_You’re a joke._

_And nothing you do is ever going to change that. So maybe you should just go out there and get wasted again, go out there and pretend everything’s okay. Just like you always have and always will._

Was her life ever going to be anything more than this? Anything better? Or was she just going to spend the rest of her life drinking herself into stupors, numbing the pain with alcohol and acting like she didn’t care? Nobody cared about her when she didn’t drink. She was just some loser lame-o nobody with no friends. Her sister hated her. Her teammates hated her. Jenna probably hated her now, too.

Jeremy’s voice was echoing in her mind. _”Why do you do that to yourself? You’re fifteen. You have your whole life ahead of you.”_

She didn’t drink because everybody else drank. She drank because, without alcohol, she was nothing.

Madeline looked down at the flask in her trembling hand. She hated it. The sight of it made her sick. She wanted to get rid of it. 

Purely on impulse, she unscrewed the cap of the flask, tipped it over, and poured all its contents into the toilet bowl. She didn’t stop until the flask was empty. Then, with a deep breath, she flushed the toilet and stepped away. 

As if the sound of the toilet flushing had alerted somebody to the fact that Madeline was in the bathroom, she heard footsteps approaching.

“Look, I’ll be...” Madeline took a deep breath, trying to compose herself. “I’ll be right there, okay? I just need a minute.”

Her words didn’t stop whoever was coming. Though she didn’t see them walk in, she heard the creaking of the hinges as the door opened.

She sighed, letting her shoulders slump. “I’m sorry, okay? I get it. I messed up.” 

Madeline turned around to face the person, but stopped when she noticed they were holding up a knife. 

“What are you...” 

Her eyes widened as the figure swung the knife at her, slashing into her upper arm. She gasped in shock, looking down and seeing blood pour out of the wound. 

“What the fuck?!” She clutched her arm and stumbled backwards as the figure slashed at her again, this time missing. “This isn’t funny! Knock it off!”

Her pleas went unanswered. The figure stabbed at her again, this time landing the knife in her abdomen. Madeline screamed. It hurt so much, Jesus. 

She stumbled backwards, falling into the shower and hitting her head against the tile. She could taste blood in her mouth. Everything hurt _so much_ , God.

“Help!” She screamed, but that was all she could get out before she began coughing on her own blood. 

The figure plunged their knife into her gut again, twisting it around for good measure. Madeline gave a helpless whimper of pain, as if she didn’t even have the life left in her to scream. Weakly, she looked up and locked eyes with her attacker, and a quiet final word escaped her mouth. 

“ _Why_?”

She sounded so scared and so pained that it caused them a twinge of guilt. Then, with a gasp, Madeline’s head slumped forwards, limp as a doll.

Dead.

They closed the shower curtain, blocking off her body. After using a piece of wet toilet paper to wipe a few drops of blood from the tile floor, they concealed their knife once more and walked towards the door, but not before turning the lights off and plunging the bathroom into darkness. With one last look at the scene of their crime, they walked off shut the door behind them, leaving the grisly scene behind for someone else to discover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> madeline got vibe checked 😔


	8. #Wallflower

So far into this sleepover, Madeline and Michael had already almost thrown hands, Jeremy and Madeline had gone AWOL, and now Christine was in the basement bathroom puking her guts out from the alcohol that Jake had given her earlier. And it was only nine PM. 

Could things get any worse?

Oh, right! Rich had probably had at least five silent mental breakdowns by now, which was _literally_ the exact opposite of what Jake was trying to do.

Yep. Things were worse.

“How are you feeling?” Chloe gently tapped on the bathroom door, a bottle of water in one hand and a box of tissues in the other. As she waited for Christine to respond, she shot Jake a glare, which Jake wholeheartedly returned.

“What?” Although muffled through the closed door, it was obvious Christine’s words were slurred. “I need a minute.”

Chloe sighed and stepped back from the door, shooting Jake an angry look. “What did you do to her?”

“Better here than at some scary party.” Jake scoffed. “What’s the worst she’s gonna do? Vomit on some of Rich’s mom’s towels?”

“No!” Rich yelled out from behind the couch, causing Jake to wince. _Wrong thing to say._ “Those are expensive! My mom will _kill_ me!”

Before Jake or Chloe could respond, Jenna entered the basement. Jake silently hoped she would bring Jeremy and Madeline- or at least one of the two -so that Rich could have _some_ peace of mind. No such luck.

“Did you find Madeline?” Chloe asked, as if the lack of Madeline’s presence wasn’t telling enough for her. 

“No.” Jenna shook her head after a moment of silence. “But I’m sure she’s living her best life.”

Michael stood up. “Was Jeremy around?”

“What is _up_ with you two?” Jake looked suspiciously at Michael. “Trouble in paradise?” He stood up, walking towards Michael as he spoke. “You know, if you’re gonna date a teammate, you should really let us know if there’s a problem. It’s a safety thing.”

Michael narrowed his eyes at Jake. “Oh my God.”

“No one’s mad about it.” Jake looked around at his fellow teammates. “Right, guys?”

Rich didn’t appear to be listening, but Chloe chimed in. “I mean, it would be kinda hypocritical of me to _not_ be okay with it-“

“Jeremy is not my boyfriend!” Michael snapped, cutting Chloe off mid-sentence.

Now, _that_ got Rich’s attention. He looked up, eyes widening as he made eye contact with both Jake and Chloe. “Oh. _Oh_. Are we... are we doing this now?” 

Rich stepped in between Michael and Jake and took a folded-up piece of paper out of his back pocket, unfolding it and smoothing it out before beginning to read from what looked like a pre-prepared speech. “Ahem. Michael, you are welcome here in whatever color of the rainbow with which you choose to identify.” 

As he finished his statement, Rich pumped his fist proudly, as if he’d accomplished something great with that. Jake laughed and rolled his eyes. Rich could be such a fucking dork sometimes.

Michael didn’t seem to appreciate Rich’s speech. In fact, he seemed downright infuriated with it as he grabbed his bag and stormed towards the basement stairs. “I am going to go find Jeremy, my _friend_.” He spat, putting extra emphasis on the word _’friend’_. “Probably so that we can _leave_!”

With that, Michael stormed up the stairs, closing the door behind him with a loud _bang_ that made Jenna jump. Rich’s shoulders sagged. “Was it something I said?”

“Maybe the speech was a bit much.” Chloe offered.

Rich sighed. “I knew I should have memorized it.”

“Guys?” 

At the sound of Christine’s voice, everyone in the room turned to look at her... and all of them screamed at once. There was blood running down the side of her face from a cut on her temple that she didn’t even seem to realize she had. Her eyes were blown out, and she stumbled around like a zombie, words slurred heavily. “Am I okay?”

“Yeah!” Rich’s voice cracked as he spoke, his lisp coming out- which meant he was really, _really_ stressed.

Christine didn’t seem satisfied with that answer. “Am I okay?”

“Yeah!” Rich nodded again.

Christine scrunched up her nose. “I don’t _feel_ okay...” She put her hand to her face and, upon pulling it away, that was when she finally noticed the blood. She screamed in distress and began running towards the stairs, but Rich grabbed her and stopped her before she could get any further.

“Christine, it’s okay! It’s just a small cut!” Rich turned to Chloe. “Chloe, you have the tissues-“ He turned back to Christine. “It is so small, you will be totally fine.”

Chloe’s eyes widened as she looked at Christine’s state. “Should we call an ambulance?!”

“No, no.” Rich shook his head rapidly. “It’s just a scratch! I’ll get her some Advil and a band-aid and she’ll be back to normal!”

“Whoa.” Jake ran up behind Christine and helped Rich support her as she fell backwards, her eyes sliding shut. She had, evidently, decided to call it a night. 

Jenna blinked, staring at Christine’s unconscious body. “Is she alive?”

Rich and Jake lowered Christine to the floor, and then Rich stood up, breathing sharply in and out and wringing his hands rapidly. “She’s breathing...” He gave a nervous, choking laugh. “It’s fine. Nobody freak out, okay?!” 

Rich didn’t sound like he was following his own advice.

“Okay.” Rich nodded, sounding like he was half choking back a sob and half inhaling a canister of helium. “Great!”

Before anyone could say anything, Rich turned and practically sprinted up the stairs and out of the basement. Leaving Jake with no choice but to follow him.

Damn, Rich was fast. By the time Jake got to the kitchen, Rich was leaning on the counter with his head in his hands, breathing sharply and rapidly. The cabinets all around him were flung open, as if he’d been rooting around in them.

“I thought we weren’t freaking out.”

At the sound of Jake’s voice, Rich’s head shot up. He blinked, as if Jake had just asked him what the answer to two plus two was. “Are you blind? Christine’s broken, Madeline’s missing, Jeremy’s probably OD’ed on my lawn-“

“Sounds like a party to me.” Jake crossed his arms and leaned back against the counter.

Rich didn’t appreciate Jake’s attempt at humor. “There is a time to have fun, J, and there’s a time to be responsible for the people that trust you to lead them.” He moved to the pantry and opened the door, scouring around inside. After a few moments, he emerged with the first aid kit in hand, which he placed on the counter and began digging through.

“The school year hasn’t even started yet.” Jake protested. “You can’t throw a party and then get mad when everyone isn’t ready to focus.”

“This is not a party.” Rich said, practically hissing. “It’s practice in the social context.”

“Dude, it is a party. You’re just bad at throwing them.”

“So help me!” Rich snapped.

“All I do is help you!” Jake said. “I used my influence as prom prince to-“

“Stop it with the prom prince crap already, Jake!” Rich looked up from the first aid kit. “Cheerleaders _inspire_. Prom court gets, like, five seconds onstage and a plastic tiara.”

Jake blinked. That had cut a little deeper than he knew it could. “Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

“You wouldn’t disappoint me if you actually tried.” Rich muttered. “You put all this effort into what you look like, who you date, your social life... and nothing into what you could really achieve for this school!”

Jake scoffed. “One could argue that what I look like _is_ the school’s biggest achievement.”

“Look.” Rich closed the lid of the first aid kit, glaring at his best friend. “If you don’t want to be here, we don’t need you.”

“Hey!” Jake didn’t know why those words set him off so much. Maybe it was the idea that the team didn’t need him. That _Rich_ didn’t need him. “I am by far not the worst member of this team.”

“Oh!” Rich’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “What an accomplishment. Would you like a crown for that, too?”

“I’d like some respect.” Jake snapped.

Rich scoffed and turned around, putting the first aid kit back in the pantry. “There’s a first.”

“You want to talk about respect?” Jake slammed his hands on the counter, creating a loud noise, but he didn’t mind. “Fine. Let’s talk about who you were before you met me. Remember fourth grade? You were a scrawny little kid who cried when the teacher called on him and never spoke up because you were scared of being wrong.”

“And what? You became friends with me because you felt sorry for me? Real charitable of you.” Rich spat.

Jake ignored Rich’s comment. “Do you know who always stuck by you? Who stood up for you when the other kids made fun of you because you had a lisp and _talked like thith_?” As he spoke, Jake imitated Rich’s lisp. “That’s right. It was me. And I have always, always been on your team. I’ve been by you every step of the way. And without me, you’d be nothing.”

Rich crossed his arms, scowling. There was a flicker of pain in his eyes, which made Jake feel a sting of guilt. “You know what? Get over yourself, Jake. This isn’t fourth grade anymore. I got here on my own.”

“No, I got the team to let you into tryouts.” Jake said. “I _begged_ them to see you.”

“Oh.” Rich blinked in another show of mock surprise. “Oh, you mean the year I got on the team and you didn’t?”

Jake shook his head and scoffed. “They only take one freshman a year, Rich. I knew what I was doing-“

“There’s no real limit on freshmen, Jake!” Rich cut Jake off, uncharacteristic anger in his voice. “And you want to know why you got on as a sophomore? It was because of me. The rest of the team- they didn’t want you! I fought for you! Because sophomore year, everybody knew your name. And no one liked you. You know why? Because you were a mouthy, snarky jerk who thought he was always right. And everybody knows Jake Dillinger, because he was that kid at the party last weekend who got so drunk he slept with two dudes on the same night.”

The mention of that incident set Jake off even more. “You know that I’ve always been right beside you? When you don’t cut yourself slack and you start crashing? I’ve always been there to support you. So don’t you _dare_ say I do nothing for this team- for _you_ -because you and I both know better.”

“Maybe if you took things more seriously-“

“I cannot believe you!” Jake yelled. 

“You’re impossible!” Rich shot back, glowering. He grabbed a roll of gauze out of the first aid kit and stormed out of the kitchen, followed closely by Jake.

“You need me.” Jake wasn’t even trying to win this argument anymore, he was just desperately trying to convince any part of Rich that he still needed- that he still _wanted_ Jake around.

“I can do this on my own.” Rich snapped. “I don’t need you.”

“I’ll always be on your team.” Jake said.

“Because I got you here.” Rich narrowed his eyes. “You wouldn’t have any of this if it weren’t for me.”

“You’d have nothing without me.” Jake snapped. “You’d _be_ nothing.” 

Rich shook his head and opened the basement door, stomping down the steps. Jake didn’t have anything else to say- he just followed Rich downstairs, trying not to show just how scared he was in that moment.

Because Rich may not have needed Jake, but Jake needed Rich more than he could say.

Christine was lying on the couch, passed out cold. Jenna and Chloe were standing behind the couch, wearing matching faces of disgust as they stared at the bloody cloth they’d evidently been using to clean up Christine’s face.

“Is that my mom’s towel?!” Rich’s eyes widened.

“Oh.” Jenna bit her lip nervously. “Were we not supposed to use those?”

Rich’s face said it all.

“Great.” Jake sighed. “Well, on the bright side, at least nothing could possibly get worse.”

As if on cue, a scream broke through the tense silence. 

Jenna looked over at Jake and flatly said, “Nice going.” 

“What was that?” Chloe looked around nervously. 

“I don’t know.” Rich said. “But we need to check it out.”

With that, Rich ran up the basement steps, with Jake and Chloe following his lead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh boy, I wonder what that scream could be? ;)


	9. #Defense

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warnings for blood (quite a fair bit but nothing too graphic) and mentions of police racism

_This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This cannot be happening._

There was no way this was real. There was no way Michael was actually pressing his sweatshirt to a bloody wound on Jeremy’s stomach, praying that it would actually help him. It had to be a joke, or a prank, or some kind of sick, twisted dream. 

“Jeremy, Jeremy, stay with me, okay?” Michael shook his friend back and forth, desperately hoping for him to wake up. Or even just for Jeremy to move. To _breathe_. To give a sign, any sign at all, that he was alive. 

But Jeremy didn’t respond. 

Panic rose in Michael with every passing second that his friend remained unresponsive. “Jeremy!”

He heard footsteps running up behind him, and turned around faster than he realized was possible. A part of him was worried that whoever had done this to Jeremy was coming for him, too. But rather than a murderer with a knife, all Michael saw was Rich, Jake, and Chloe- who all wore expressions of shock and horror on their faces as they looked down at Jeremy. Evidently, they’d been summoned by Michael screaming.

“Oh my God...” Rich clasped his hands over his mouth. 

“Is he okay?!” Jake’s eyes widened as he looked Jeremy up and down.

“Is he-“ Rich couldn’t even finish his sentence, he was shaking so badly. Jake had to finish it for him.

“Is he dead?!”

 _Dead_.

No, no, Jeremy couldn’t be dead. Not yet. Not when Michael still had so much to say to him. So much to apologize for.

“Wake up.” Michael shook Jeremy desperately. “Please, Jeremy, wake up!”

Michael turned back to Rich, Chloe, and Jake. Rich seemed to have trouble standing up- Jake had one arm around his best friend, pressing Rich against his body as if to stabilize him. Chloe watched in silent horror, blinking rapidly as if trying to confirm that what she was seeing was indeed real.

“Call an ambulance!” Michael didn’t even try to hide how his voice cracked- he was too upset to care. “Someone do something!”

“We don’t have our phones!” Chloe yelled.

“They’re inside. I’ll go get them-“ Rich started to walk back towards the house, but was stopped by Jake.

“Rich, whoever did this could still be in there.” Jake’s voice was strangely fearful, with a level of concern that surprised Michael.

“I’m the captain.” Rich took a deep breath, as if he were trying to steady his own shaking body. “It’s my responsibility. If anything happens, run.”

Rich turned around and ran back into the house. No one said anything for a long time. The only sound Michael could hear was his own heartbeat, pounding in his ears so loudly that he wouldn’t have been surprised if Jake and Chloe could hear it too.

“Jeremy...” Michael bit his lip, trying and failing to stop the tears from welling up in his eyes. “Please wake up...”

“ _Oh my God!_ ” Rich’s scream cut through the air. Jake’s eyes widened at that sound. 

“Rich?” For the first time since Michael had met him, Jake sounded _scared_. “Rich!”

Jake tried to run into the house, only stopped by Chloe grabbing his arm. “Jake!”

“Rich could be in trouble!” Jake’s eyes were wide and desperate. “We have to help him!”

“You’d only be putting yourself in danger too.” Chloe said. 

Jake still looked like he was about to break out of Chloe’s grip and run inside, but he didn’t have to. Rich came sprinting out of the house, panic on his face.

“The phones are gone!” Rich yelled. 

Chloe’s eyes widened. “How are the phones gone?!”

“I don’t know the backstory!” Rich snapped, though his tone was more fearful than angry. “They’re just not there!”

“So whoever did this could still be in the house.” Jake said.

“It’s a gated community!” Chloe said, as if that were the most important thing they had to worry about. “Doesn’t it have a guard?”

“A guard who’s probably asleep right now!” Jake said. “The point is, we are eight vulnerable kids alone in a big-ass house...” Jake’s voice trailed off as he seemed to come to a realization. “This is the start to every horror movie.”

“This isn’t a _movie_!” Michael snapped. “We have to call an ambulance.”

Chloe bit her bottom lip nervously, turning to Rich. “Do you have a landline, maybe?”

“No one has a freaking landline anymore, Chloe!” Rich yelled.

“He needs help!” Michael pointed to Jeremy.

“Michael, we can’t help him.” Jake said. “He’s dead.”

 _Dead_.”

“No, he’s not-“ Michael reached for Jeremy’s wrist, desperately feeling around for a pulse, a heartbeat. But there was nothing.

Jeremy _was_ dead.

The realization hit Michael like a bucket of ice cold water. He was drowning on dry land. He was breathing, but there was no air coming into his lungs. The last thing he’d said to Jeremy played over and over again in his mind, like it was on loop.

_You had one person left who believed in you. One._

Were those the last words Jeremy ever heard?

Michael’s best friend was gone.

That was what caused the dam to break. Michael began to cry. He didn’t even care that Jake and Rich and Chloe were watching him. All he cared about was the fact that Jeremy was _dead_. 

_It’s all my fault._

_I left him out here._

_If I’d stayed with him, he wouldn’t have been alone._

_If I’d stayed with him, he’d still be alive._

“Holy shit!”

As if things couldn’t get any worse, another scream ripped through the night air. This one, however, came from a girl, and from inside the house.

A horrified expression came across Chloe’s face. “Where’s Jennie and Madeline?”

Jake turned to Rich, and upon seeing his best friend’s expression, shook his head. “Oh _hell_ no. You are _not_ going back in there.”

Despite how much he was shaking, Rich didn’t seem fazed by Jake’s comment. “That’s our _team_ in there.” 

Without waiting for Jake to say anything else, Rich turned around and ran back inside. Almost immediately, Jake followed him.

“Come on.” Chloe helped Michael to his feet, giving him a sympathetic look. And while normally, Michael wouldn’t accept anything from Chloe, he let her take his hand firmly in her own and guide him to the front door of the house. 

Michael took one last look at his friend’s body- at everything he’d never said -and followed Chloe inside.

***

Jenna stood in the bathroom doorway, knocking on the open door. The bathroom was almost pitch black, with only the light cast in through the open door to illuminate the scene. Jenna’s eyes darted around nervously as she scanned the room for any sign of Madeline. She couldn’t quite place it, but there was a terrible, metallic stench coming from somewhere inside the bathroom.

“Madeline?” Jenna called out, “Madeline, are you okay?! I heard, like, a bloodcurdling scream, is everything okay?”

There was no response.

“Madeline?” Jenna took several tentative step inside the bathroom. 

She heard the sound of her foot hitting something metal. When she looked down, she saw Madeline’s open flask sitting on the tile. She picked it up- it was empty -and stared at it for a few minutes in confusion before her eyes settled on the shower curtain. It was closed- and it hadn’t been closed when she’d left Madeline in the bathroom. 

Jenna was not prepared for the sight that awaited her when she pulled back the curtain,

Madeline was slumped against the wall, her head drooping downwards. Even in the darkness, Jenna could see that her face and body were covered with blood. The tile wall behind Madeline also had blood dripping down the clean white surface, creating small pools at the bottom of the shower. The coppery stench hit her full force, stinging her nose and making her eyes water with how strong it was.

“ _Holy shit!_ ” Jenna screamed. She dropped down to her knees, examining Madeline but afraid to touch her. 

“You’re okay...” Jenna said, looking Madeline up and down. “You’re gonna be just fine... let’s find a pulse.”

It was at that moment Jenna remembered- she had no idea how to find someone’s pulse. She put two fingers on Madeline’s forehead, her neck, her wrist, her calf, her ankle- she felt nothing in any of those spots. She was fairly sure the pulse was in at least one of those places, so the absence of one caused panic to rise in her.

Suddenly, Jenna heard a female voice from behind her. When she turned around, she saw nothing but a silhouette- no face, just a mysterious figure shrouded in shadow.

“Hey, I heard-“

Jenna screamed, cutting the mystery girl off. Without even thinking, she threw the closest thing she could reach at the intruder- which happened to be a box of tissues. That didn’t really do much. 

“Hey!” The figure’s tone changed to one of bewilderment. “What are you-“ 

Jenna was still in fight-or-flight mode. And she’d chosen _fight_. She grabbed a can off Lysol off of the bathroom counter and sprayed it in the figure’s eyes, causing her to scream and fall down onto her knees, gripping onto the toilet for stability. Jenna slammed the toilet lid down onto the figure’s hands as hard as she possibly could, causing the intruder to shriek in pain and stumble to her feet. She staggered towards Jenna, but before she got too close, Jenna grabbed the shower nozzle and hit the intruder square in the face with it. The force of the blow caused the intruder to fall backwards, her head slamming against the toilet with a crack. She went limp, her hand draping over the closed toilet seat.

Jenna froze and stared at the intruder for a few moments before cautiously approaching her, still holding the shower nozzle out in front of her in case she sprung up without warning. She leaned out over the body, flicking the light switch and illuminating the room. When she got a good look at the girl, her fear vanished when she realized it wasn’t an intruder after all- it was Chloe’s girlfriend.

“Oh, Brooke, it’s just you.” Jenna sighed in relief. “Get up.”

Jenna placed the shower nozzle back in its rightful position, but when she turned around, Brooke still hadn’t moved.

“I’m really sorry for hitting you, Brooke. C’mon, get u-“ Jenna leaned over and lifted Brooke’s hand up, but stopped when she realized that it was completely limp. In horror, she dropped Brooke’s arm and began shaking the limp girl back and forth. “Get up! Get up! Please!”

She began placing two of her fingers in all the same spots she’d done when she tried to read Madeline’s pulse, giving a yell that was a mix of frustration and utter terror. “Where the _fuck_ is it?!”

Jenna heard a gasp, and when she turned, she saw Rich standing in the doorway, his jaw open as he stared at the grisly scene before him. A few seconds later, Jake appeared behind his friend, and his yell summarized what pretty much everyone was thinking. 

“Holy _fuck_!”

Chloe and Michael appeared in the doorway as well. While Chloe looked just as horrified as Jake and Rich, Michael simply looked numb- as if he’d shut down. 

“Oh my God.” Rich began hyperventilating. “Oh my God.”

Jenna stepped away from Brooke’s body, holding her hands up. “I found Madeline...” She hesitated slightly before adding, “...and Brooke! They were both in here together!”

Chloe’s expression somehow became even more terrified when she saw Brooke’s body. She stood silently for a long time before she let out one word- a heartbroken, trembling “What?”

“Chloe, I’m so sorry.” Jenna said softly. “I... I don’t know how she got in.”

“But it’s a gated community!” Rich yelled, wringing his hands nervously.”

Jake looked over at his best friend. “We’re well past that!” 

“Oh my God...” Chloe let out an anguished sob. “Oh my God!” 

She turned away from the bodies, as if she wasn’t able to bear the sight of them any longer, and ran off down the hallway. Michael followed after her, leaving Rich, Jake, and Jenna alone in the bathroom.

“I’ll take the car.” Rich looked over to Jake and Jenna. “I’ll... I’ll go get help.”

Rich turned and ran out the door. He made it halfway down the hallway before Jake caught up with him and stopped him by putting a hand on Rich’s shoulder. 

“Rich, wait!” 

“For what?” Rich spun around to face his best friend. “For the rest of us to get killed?”

“Do you really want to have the police here when we’re surrounded by dead bodies and covered in blood?!” Jake snapped.

“Yes!” Rich yelled. “That’s exactly when you call the police!”

“Whoever stole our phones and killed our friends is gone now.” Jake said.

“So they’ll investigate!”

“Yeah, Rich, _us_.” Jake said. “They’ll investigate _us_. You know what happens when people like us call the police.”

“What do you-“ Rich’s eyes widened. “Oh.”

“If they come here and there’s no one to blame, they’ll find someone.” Jake said. “They’ll push us all, and they’ll keep pushing us until one of us cracks and they have someone to pin this all on. And the rest of us won’t be able to escape it, ever.”

“You really don’t think...” Rich’s voice trailed off.

“Rich, we are five black kids who were alone in a house when three people were murdered. No supervision. None of us have an alibi. The news is going to have a field day with this.”

“We can’t just not call the police!” Rich said, panic rising in his voice. 

“We can’t call them when we have no explanation, either.” Jake looked Rich in the eye. “You’re captain for a reason. You know just what to say to unite us.”

Rich shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re saying.”

He walked downstairs, and Jake followed him. Chloe was sitting on the living room couch, breathing heavily as her whole body shook with sobs. Jenna sat nervously, looking up at Rich as if for guidance. Michael was staring down at his hands, which were still covered with Jeremy’s blood.

“Jake, you’re on a team with everyone in this house.” Rich said. “You know none of us would kill anybody.”

Jake looked over at Michael. “What I know is that Michael and Jeremy we’re fighting all night. And you were the last person to see him before he turned up dead. And you and Madeline got into a fight in front of all of us.”

Michael stood up. “You’re not seriously trying to pin this on me, are you?”

“Of course not.” Rich shook his head, giving Jake a warning look.

“I’m _saying_ that if the police find that out, it’s not going to look good for you.” Jake said. “They’re going to try to pin this on one of us. And let’s be honest, we all have reasons for people to be suspicious of us.”

“He’s right.” Jenna stood up. “Chloe, you didn’t exactly love Madeline. Especially if something was happening between her and Brooke.”

“There wasn’t!” Chloe’s eyes were full of tears, and her voice broke as she spoke. “Brooke was here to see me.”

“Maybe you found Brooke with somebody a little more fun. Someone she didn’t have to wait for.” Jake crossed his arms. “The point is, they’re going to look for all those little things. They’re going to make one of us confess. Unless we do something.”

“Brooke wouldn’t-“ Chloe shook her head and stood up. “What do we have to do?”

“If we mess with this, it’s going to look a hundred times worse than just getting help.” Rich said.

“And if we don’t, we spend the year in a murder investigation.” Jake snapped. “We already went viral once. The school needs us. We cannot afford something like this. It would wreck us forever.”

“Jake, what could possibly be your grand plan to fix all this?” Rich asked.

“Well, we...” Jake gasped, eyes widening. “Christine.”

Rich blinked, puzzled. “What?”

“None of us know Christine.” Jake said.

Rich’s eyes widened as he realized what Jake was implying. “Christine is an innocent kid.”

“So are you, Rich!” Jake sighed. “Look. It’s not what I want, but if we all agree on this, it’s five against one. She’s drunk, she’s passed out-“

“You did that to her! She’s drunk because of you!” Rich said.

“She’s literally covered in blood.” Jake gestured towards the basement stairs. “We can call the cops, we just need to...” He took a deep breath. “We need to plant some evidence.”

“There’s nothing here to plant.” Michael said. “No murder weapon.”

Jake began pacing back and forth. “We’ll... we’ll get Christine’s fingerprints on one of Rich’s knives. We’ll get a little messy.”

“That’s disgusting!” Rich looked absolutely appalled with his best friend.

“It’ll be Christine’s problem, not ours.” Jake looked around at his teammates. “There’s a lot of pressure when you’re a freshman. Sometimes people just... snap.”

“Nobody deserves this.” Rich said.

“You know we need to do something, Rich!” Jake looked at his friend with pleading eyes. “You’re the one who’s always saying it. You know? _We are the soul of the school, the pride in the name, the heart and the flame._ ”

Rich seemed to be deep in thought for a few moments before he nodded slowly. “ _Our words are pure inspiration, years of creation, changing the nation._ ”

“You asked what I can give this team?” Jake gestured to the room around him. “Here it is. We do this, and the Tigers keep on surviving. That’s the whole point, isn’t it? Tiger pride?”

Michael sighed. “I’m in.”

“Me too.” Jenna stood up. 

Chloe sniffled, but nodded. “I’ll do it.”

“We’re all in this together.” Jake said. “If one of you breaks, it’ll come down on all of us.” 

He gave Michael a long, pointed glance, making it clear that he knew Michael was the most likely one to “break”. 

“You should say it out loud, J, if you’re gonna be so blunt.” Michael snapped. “We’re tampering with a murder scene.”

Rich grimaced. “Not the proudest thing we’ve done.”

“But Tigers fight until they win.” Jake looked around at the group. “Right?”

The group nodded and ran off in separate directions. Michael went outside, where Jeremy’s body was. Jenna made a beeline for the kitchen, presumably to grab a knife. And Chloe ran up to the bathroom, where Brooke and Madeline’s bodies were. Rich and Jake stayed in the living together, waiting. 

“I can’t believe we’re about to ruin that poor girl’s life.” Rich sat down on the couch, putting his head in his hands.

“It’s either us or her, Rich.” Jake sat down next to Rich and put an arm around his friend. “Us or her.” He repeated- more out of a need to convince himself then to convince his friend.

In the bathroom, Chloe plugged her nose, trying to keep herself from smelling the horrible scent of Madeline and Brooke’s blood. She stared at the bodies of her girlfriend and her sister for a moment before she grabbed a white cloth from the sink and dipped it in a pool of blood on the shower floor, then in some blood on the toilet seat where Brooke’s body lay.

In the kitchen, Jenna used a clean towel to take a big, sharp knife off the rack. She went to leave but jumped in surprise when Chloe entered, holding out the bloody rag. 

“Here.” Chloe held the rag out to Jenna. “Use the back door and go give this to Michael.”

Jenna nodded. “On it.” She grabbed the bloody rag from Chloe and exited the kitchen as Chloe moved to join Rich and Jake in the living room.

Michael stood by Jeremy’s body. His hands were shaking as he stared down at his dead best friend- Jeremy’s eyes were glazed over, like a doll’s eyes. It looked so _wrong_. Jenna rounded the corner, knife and bloody rag in hand.

“Here.” Jenna handed the knife and rag to Michael before heading back inside, leaving Michael alone again.

Michael knelt down, covering the already dirty rag in Jeremy’s blood. He looked up at his friend’s body, biting his lip in a futile effort to keep from crying.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

Once the rag was coated in blood, Michael ran it over the blade of the knife, getting it wet with blood. He then grabbed the knife using the clean towel, making sure to avoid getting his fingerprints on the weapon. 

After sparing one last look at Jeremy’s body, Michael ran inside the house and shut the door behind him.

Jake, Rich, Jenna, and Chloe were all sitting in the living room, like some sort of macabre club meeting. When Michael entered, Jake eyed the knife and bloody rag in his hands with skepticism. “Why do you still have the bloody one?”

“I don’t know.” Michael shrugged. “What was I supposed to do with it?” 

“Just throw it away. I’ll get rid of it later.” Rich held out his hand. “Give me the knife.”

Michael handed the knife to Rich, who grabbed it using the clean rag, and dropped the bloody rag in a small trash can in the corner of the room. Right at that moment, Christine staggered up the basement stairs, evidently still drunk.

“What’s going on?” Christine slurred. “I heard something.”

Rich, Michael, Jake, Chloe, and Jenna all stared at her, none of them responding. 

“Is everything okay?” Christine asked. 

Jake looked over at Rich, giving him a small nod. Rich took a deep breath, looked around at all his teammates, and shoved the knife into Christine’s hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’re confused about Jake mentioning them all being black, the cast I had in mind when writing this fic was anthony!rich, britton!jake, morgan!chloe, tiffany!jenna, and jeremiah!michael


	10. #Jailbird

**Five months later**

The gates around the Mercer County Juvenile Correctional Facility slid closed. All around the large building, lights began to shut off, signaling the end of the day. Armed guards patrolled the outskirts of the facility, their flashlight beams cutting through the darkness as lampposts flickered on and off.

Inside one of the many cells, Christine sat down on a plain cot, a piece of lined paper and a pencil in her hand. It wasn’t a regular pencil, of course- the facility didn’t allow the kids to have full-sized pencils, out of a fear that the kids could use them as weapons if a fight were to break out. Instead, they were forced to use tiny golf pencils, not unlike the ones you could get at IKEA. Christine was wearing an oversized white tee-shirt and orange prison-issue shorts, both of which smelled stale and a little bit like sweat. They’d probably been used by some other girl before she arrived.

Christine had meant to write a letter to her parents. So far, however, all she’d managed to write out was _”Dear Mom and Dad”_. She wasn’t sure what she could put in this letter that wouldn’t have her parents worried sick. They had already been stressed enough lately- Christine didn’t want to worry them any more than she had to. For the last five months, she’d been providing her parents with the overly sanitized version of juvie, but that didn’t mean it got any easier. With a sign, she put her too-short pencil to the paper and began to write.

_Things are fine here in juvie. I mean, I haven’t gotten shivved yet, so that’s something, I guess. Really, it could be worse. Did you know that nearly 150,000 people die every day across the world? When you consider that, the fact that you’re not one of that 150,000 every day is kind of a miracle! It’s the little things, you know?_

_I’m actually making a few friends here. If by “friends” you mean convicts who murdered their families. Don’t worry, they’re not that bad! Yesterday, a girl who’s in here for shooting her dad let me have her muffin at lunch because she wasn’t going to eat it. Wasn’t that nice of her? And yesterday, this girl named Tasha came up to me at lunch and said that I was her “wife” now. She’s probably just teasing me, but it’s nice to be included! The weird thing is, I can trust these literal murderers more than I could trust those cheerleaders. At least the murderers never pretended I was their friend before they turned around and threw me under the bus._

_Guess what? The staff is offering classes on oil painting! I’ve been thinking about going to a couple. It’d be nice to have something to do besides stare at the ceiling and wonder why the fuck this happened to me._

_Sorry about the swearing. Prison has hardened me._

Christine wasn’t even focused on the “letter” part anymore- five months’ worth of anger and desperation left her brain and the pencil spit them out onto the paper in the form of words.

_I just... I don’t think I can do this anymore. I should have never joined that stupid cheer team. I should have listened to you guys when you suggested the chess club, or ballet, or soccer, or literally anything else. Then, maybe I wouldn’t be sitting in prison on three homicide charges._

_I’m sorry I was so stupid at that party. I’m sorry I got drunk. You were right about alcohol. I should have left when Jake dared me to drink. I should have faked a stomach ache- no, I should have told him to fuck off right there._

_I can’t stay here forever. I’ve barely survived five months! I mean, a year from now, all my friends will be getting their learners’ permits, and the most I can do while I’m stuck in here is knit a fucking sweater or something! Not even that, because they don’t let us have knitting needles in juvie! I need a better lawyer. I need a better life. Because, Mom and Dad, I really don’t think I killed those kids._

Christine hadn’t even realized she was crying until now, when a tear fell from her eye and hit the paper. The reality of her situation was setting in, and she hated it. In her head, all she could see was a lifetime of _this_ \- of trying to spin pity muffins and oil painting classes into something positive. This wasn’t fair. None of this was fair. She _hadn’t_ killed those kids- she was sure of it. So why was she sitting in juvie, taking the fall for someone else’s crime? She wanted to scream, but the only noise that came out of her mouth was a quiet, pitiful sob.

“I didn’t kill anyone.” She pounded both her fists on the wall, causing a loud bang to reverberate through the small room as she cried out, louder this time. “I didn’t kill anyone!”

There was another bang from the cell next to her, along with a very agitated girl’s voice yelling out, “Shut the fuck up!” 

Christine slumped away from the wall. Her anger had vanished as quickly as it came, leaving her simply defeated. With a sigh, she picked up the pencil and the piece of paper- which was crumpled now -and continued to write.

_But it’s the little things, I guess. You can’t dwell on the negatives, you just have to build a bridge and move forward with your life. And... and you hope that four years doesn’t feel very long._

Christine looked over her crumpled, tear-stained, curse-filled letter. This would definitely not make her parents feel better at all.

With a sigh, Christine crumpled up the letter and tossed it across the room, where it landed in the wastebasket. She grabbed another sheet of paper from her stationary set, along with a fresh pencil, and began to write.

_Dear Mom and Dad..._


	11. #ComebackGameStrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!!! Sorry it’s been so long since my last update. I’ve been so busy with school and midterms that I’ve hardly had any time to focus on this story. But now that I’m on Christmas break, I should have some more time!

Standing in front of Rich’s house, Michael could almost pretend everything was normal for just a second. The exterior remained unchanged, and despite the colder weather, it was just as it had been on the night of that sleepover five months ago.

Almost.

He was wearing a new jacket, rather than the red hoodie he’d pretty much worn every day since sixth grade. His moms had been shocked when he threw it in the garbage can, but Michael didn’t really feel like wearing it anymore after it had been stained with his best friend’s blood. Even if most of it had come out in the wash, the marks lingered- permanent reminders that Jeremy was gone, that nothing would ever be the same.

A gust of chilly winter air sent dry leaves flying along the grass of the front lawn. Michael didn’t feel like ringing the doorbell. Yeah, it was cold, but he would have rather stood out there for eternity than go back into that house again. 

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Deja-freaking-vu.”

He was aware of his own voice echoing through the air, with no one there to respond. He’d been expecting silence. 

He hadn’t been expecting to feel something on his shoulder- almost like a hand -and to hear an all-too-familiar voice say, “ _This was so not a good idea._ ”

“What?” Michael whipped around, but... no one had their hand on his shoulder. The only person he could see was Jenna, who was wearing a pink hoodie and grey sweatpants, holding a gym bag out in front of her.

“I said, hi Michael.” Jenna gave an awkward half-wave.

“Jennie.” Michael bit his lip. It hadn’t been Jenna’s voice he’d just heard- he knew that for a fact. But it couldn’t have been who he thought he’d heard- that was impossible. “You’re back.”

Jenna nodded. “Y’know, I thought there was no way in the darkest pits of Hell I was ever coming back to this house. But then Rich gave me pom-poms, so...” Jenna reached into her gym bag and pulled out a pair of orange and white pom-poms. 

“Wait, you’re on the team?” Despite the circumstances, Michael managed a small, but genuine, smile. “Congrats. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Jenna’s smile faded. “I... I didn’t want you to think that I was replacing...” 

“Oh.” Michael didn’t let Jenna finish her sentence- she didn’t have to. Silence hung heavy in the air for a few moments before Michael broke it. “Well... I guess somebody had to do it.”

“Hey, team!” 

Michael and Jenna turned around to see Chloe walking towards the two of them, a pink umbrella held over her head despite the fact that it wasn’t raining. She wore a white vest over a long-sleeved shirt, black leggings, and pink Ugg boots.

“Hey.” Michael gave Chloe a small nod, and that was when he noticed she was... smiling. A plastered-on, too-wide, obviously-fake smile. Weird. “You good?”

“I’m the best I’ve ever been!” Chloe chirped. Her whole demeanor reminded Michael of Rich- _way_ too peppy for the circumstances. “Why?”

Michael blinked, taken aback by her demeanor. He wouldn’t have expected Chloe to be Little Miss Sunshine after returning to the house where her girlfriend and step-sister had been brutally murdered. “Madeline and Brooke-“

“Got what they deserved.” Chloe cut Michael off, her tone flat and blasé. 

Michael and Jenna looked at each other, with each of their expressions seeming to ask _Did I just hear that right?”_. After a moment, Michael turned to Chloe again. “Excuse me?”

“They were together when they were killed.” Chloe said, as if it was the most obvious fact in the world and Michael was dumb for even asking about it. “That’s the price you pay.”

“You don’t know they were together, like...” Michael struggled to find the right words to phrase this in a somewhat tasteful way. “ _Together._ ”

“I’m not going to delude myself, Michael.” Chloe snapped. “I know what I saw.”

Michael pressed his lips together in a thin, tight line and shook his head. “No, you really don’t.” 

Chloe held up a hand. “ _‘Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people.’_.” She smiled, as if she was proud of herself for quoting that whole phrase verbatim. “Ephesians 5:3.” 

“You’re a cheerleader, Chloe.” Michael said. “That’s all of those things.”

“I-“ Chloe growled and narrowed her eyes at Michael. “I did not make God’s rules, Michael, but we’ve all seen the dangers of not living by them!”

Michael rolled his eyes. “ _God_ doesn’t make God’s rules. If God killed high schoolers for having sex, there would be no high schoolers.”

“Michael’s right.” Jenna jumped into the conversation. “I’m not a virgin, and _I_ didn’t die.”

Chloe gave Jenna the side-eye. “Yet.”

Jenna, alarmed, looked over her shoulder.

“Is this 16 Harcourt?” 

Michael, Jenna, and Chloe all turned around to see an Asian boy with messy dark hair jog up to the house, a backpack slung over his shoulder. He was wearing a red polo shirt with a pizza on the front pocket- probably a uniform of some kind -with a denim jacket over it. Michael’s eyes were drawn to a rainbow pin on the jacket. 

“What are _you_ doing here?” Chloe asked, narrowing her eyes.

“Chloe!” Jenna admonished.

“He’s West High’s flyer.” Chloe said. 

“Actually, I’m your flyer now.” The boy said, with a small, crooked smile. “My name’s Dustin. Your school recruited me.” As he looked around at the three, he seemed to have a moment of realization, and his smile dropped. “Obviously, the circumstances could be better-“

“West High.” Michael had been so absorbed in watching the new boy that he hadn’t even noticed Jake walking up to the group, and so when he spoke, Michael actually jumped in surprise. “Where’s the pizza?”

 _Lesson learned,_ Michael thought, _a triple homicide is not enough to stop Jake from being a dick._

“He’s on the team.” Chloe said, as if she hadn’t given Dustin the same treatment mere moments before.

Jake raised an eyebrow at Dustin. “You know you can kiss all your trophies goodbye, right?”

“Oh, I cheer for fun, really.” Dustin said. “I’m actually leaning more towards climatology right now. Your school has a really great science program.”

Jake opened his mouth, probably to make a sarcastic comment, but he was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Rich, peppy as ever, stood in the doorway. 

“Hey everyone!” Rich had his trademark smile plastered on as he spoke. “Welcome back! Dustin, so glad you could make it.” He gestured over his shoulder. “If you guys want to head down to the basement, we will get started in just a second.”

All five of the team members gathered on the lawn shared awkward looks. The _basement_ of all places. Why couldn’t they have convened in Rich’s backyard instead? At least in the backyard, the neighbors would be able to hear them.

Chloe was the first one to run inside the house, followed by Jenna- who gave Rich an awkward wave as she passed him. Dustin moved to enter as well, but stopped when Michael tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, I... I like your pin.” Michael gestured to the rainbow pin on Dustin’s jacket.

“Thanks.” Dustin smiled. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Michael.” Michael stuck out his hand, and Dustin shook it. “Can I show you around?”

“Yeah.” Dustin nodded. “I’d like that.”

The two of them walked inside the house, leaving only Jake and Rich outside. Rich turned to follow the rest of his team inside, but stopped when he heard Jake’s voice.

“Hey!”

Rich slowly turned around to face his friend. “Hello, Jake.”

Jake tilted his head towards the house. “Nice move there with your new best friend.” He practically spat those words, the disdain in his voice clearly evident.

“Dustin?” Rich asked. “The school board worked it out-“

“And he can pay tuition?” Jake raised an eyebrow.

“He got a scholarship.” Rich leaned against his doorframe. 

“Pretty big scholarship.” Jake looked Rich right in the eye as he said that, making his implications crystal clear.

Rich sighed. “Jake, whatever you’re thinking, just shut it down. He wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t asked.”

“Oh!” Jake scoffed. “So you answered _somebody’s_ texts.”

“Oh my God.” Rich rolled his eyes. “Jake-“

Jake continued on, ignoring Rich’s attempt at quieting him. Gone was the sarcasm from his voice- in its place was bite and thinly veiled pain. “Maybe if I was the highest ranked flyer in all the state, I’d be more worthy of your-“

“ _Jake!_ ” Rich’s voice was so loud it surprised even him. He cleared his throat, trying to collect himself. “Look. I’m sorry that I haven’t been a great friend in these past few months. But I’ve been watching a lot of TED Talks on crisis management, and I think I’m ready to guide us forward.”

Jake decided to ignore the fact that Rich had just admitted his whole basis for whatever he was going to tell them was based on some fucking _TED Talks_. “So you decided to help us all heal from this unthinkable tragedy... by returning to the scene of the crime?”

“I have to live here!” Rich said. “I think you all can make it through one evening.” 

Jake pressed his lips together. “Uh, I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but we don’t exactly have a stellar track record of ‘making it through’ events at your place.”

Rich sighed exasperatedly at his best friend’s patronizing comment. “Look, Jake, no one had to come here tonight. But everyone chose to. And I think that’s because we all want to move on. We can embrace this tragedy and come back stronger than before. Like...” Rich suddenly gasped. If this were a cartoon, Jake had no doubt that there would be a lightbulb going off over Rich’s head right now. “Like a phoenix, you know?”

Jake blinked. Of all the things he’d thought Rich was going to say- the word “phoenix” had _not_ made the list. “Um... no? Like a _what_?”

“Phoenixes!” Rich grinned. “They rise from the ashes into something majestic and beautiful. This is our year, Jay, I can feel it.”

“Feel... what?” Jake asked, wondering to himself if Rich had finally snapped. 

“Okay, um...” Rich bit his lip. “You know that feeling when you’re so happy you could just burst? And you feel like you’re going to succeed at everything you do?”

Jake stared blankly at his friend for a moment before he muttered, “Not my usual reaction to homicide.”

“Second chances don’t come every day, Jake.” Rich reached out and grabbed Jake by the hand, and either he didn’t notice Jake’s breath seizing up at that moment, or he just didn’t care. “We both could have _died_ that night. Any of us could have. But we didn’t. We got to live.”

“I wouldn’t say we _got_ to live.” Jake said. “More like ‘the stabby maniac _didn’t_ decide to drive a knife into our still-beating hearts’.”

“I don’t know about you, Jake, but I came out of that basement with a whole new outlook on life.” Rich said. “I realized that you only get one life. And that life can end at any moment. So you can’t waste the time you get mourning what’s already happened. You need to grab life by the horns and live each day to the fullest.” 

“ _Rich_.” Jake grabbed his friend by the shoulders. “I know what happened that night was some heavy shit. You know it too. You know you don’t have to pretend to be happy and chipper all the time.”

“I’m not _pretending_.” Rich said defensively. “I’m just trying to be a positive role model for the rest of the team.” He held out his hand. “So, are you going to join the rest of us inside, or do we have to start practice without you?”

_He doesn’t think he can let himself fall apart._

The realization hit Jake like a ton of bricks. Of course Rich Goranski wasn’t going to let himself show how he really felt in front of the team. He never did. The only person who he let even remotely see the cracks in his armor was Jake, but now even Jake couldn’t see what was going on inside his best friend’s head.

And that scared Jake. He was supposed to be the one person who kept Rich from jumping off a cliff and into the abyss of insanity- but he couldn’t see how close his best friend was to the ledge.


	12. #Phoenix

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aka: dustin be like “i may not know much but what the great googly moogly is this shit”

“Okay, everyone!” Rich smiled as he addressed the team members gathered in his basement- a gesture which was not returned by a single person. 

Jenna sat in the center of the couch, staring down at her lap. Chloe was sitting on one of the loveseats, her back ramrod straight, like some kind of mechanical component ready to spring to action at the press of a button. Dustin sat on the loveseat across from Chloe, nervously eyeing the other team members. Michael was sitting cross-legged on the ground next to Dustin’s chair, avoiding eye contact with everybody. And Jake leaned up against the stairs, arms crossed.

Rich cleared his throat. “Please know that I am truly moved that you’ve all decided to continue with the team in this new semester. With Regionals just around the corner, we are on a pretty fast track, but I promise you all- we _will_ heal. And we will inspire others to heal with us.” He clapped his hands, clearly very pleased with himself. “Now, I would like to extend a particularly special welcome to our newest members; our good friend Jenna-“

Rich nodded to Jenna, who proudly gestured to the orange _MBHS Tigers_ on her shirt. 

“-and Dustin Kropp, who has transferred to Middleborough to join our squad.” Rich gestured to Dustin, who gave an awkward wave. The excitement in Rich’s voice was evident as he spoke. “Some of you may know Dustin as the highest ranked flyer in the state, so we are _very_ lucky to have him at our pep rally this Friday.”

Michael sat up, annoyed. “You mean memorial.”

“I meant pep rally, Michael.” Rich said. “We already had a memorial.”

“Everything our team does is going to be a memorial.” Michael snapped. “Whether we like it or not-“

“Can I speak, Michael?!” Rich stomped his foot on the ground, shocking Michael into silence. “Do I have your permission to continue?!”

Realizing his outburst, Rich cleared his throat again and looked down at his feet, embarrassed. An awkward silence followed, one that was only broken when Dustin stood up. “Hey, I’m gonna go change, if that’s okay?”

“Of course, Dustin!” Rich nodded, almost a bit too rapidly. “The bathroom is down the hall and to the left.”

Dustin grabbed his backpack and walked off down the hallway, but not before shooting an apologetic glance at Michael and mouthing ‘ _sorry_ ’. As soon as Dustin was out of earshot, Rich gestured to a tray on the coffee table, which contained two lit candles. “If you’ll notice, I have lit a candle for Jeremy and Madeline. So nobody has to be afraid to remember them for who they _were_. I want us to embrace the good memories and continue to make new ones.” 

Michael scoffed. “What ‘good memories’ do _you_ have of Jeremy and Madeline?”

“I knew them.” Rich said, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

“No, you really didn’t.” Michael stood up. “Where did Jeremy want to go to college?”

Rich was silent for a moment. He opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. Finally, his eyes narrowed into an angry scowl. “This is not trivia time, Michael! And this is a no-negativity zone, so I would really appreciate a revision on that bad attitude of yours, hmm?”

“I do not have a ‘bad attitude’!” Michael said.

“Okay, okay!” Rich took a deep breath, as if he was trying to maintain his composure. “You know what? This is the perfect time to try out one of the new relaxation techniques I learned!” He ran over to a bookshelf on the wall and took a book off the shelf. Jake moved to get a glimpse of the cover, which read: **_Rising From The Ashes: How to Overcome Tragedy and Become a Better Version of Yourself_**. 

“You bought a fucking _self-help_ book?” Jake raised an eyebrow.

Rich ignored the snide comment, opened the book, and began to read. “Okay. ‘Close your eyes’.” He looked up from the book and gave Jake and Michael, who weren’t following his instructions, sharp looks. “Guys...”

Begrudgingly, Jake and Michael closed their eyes.

“Good job.” Rich looked back down at the book. “‘Think of the happiest time in your life. You can say it aloud if you wish, or you can keep it to yourself. There is no wrong way to approach this exercise.’” 

“The happiest time in my life was when I wasn’t in this basement doing some stupid meditation exercise.” Michael muttered.

Rich sighed. “There is _one_ wrong way to approach this exercise.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Michael said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “Sorry if I don’t feel like sunshine and rainbows after my best friend was fucking murdered.”

“All right!” Rich raised his voice so it drowned out Michael’s, flipping to a new page in his book. “How about we try this instead? ‘Think about your traumatic experience. Now thing about one thing you learned from that experience that helped you grow and/or become a better person’.” 

“I learned that I shouldn’t live in the past.” Chloe said, her tone icy cold.

Rich smiled. “That’s good! Jenna?”

“I guess I learned... that good things can come out of bad things?” Jenna offered weakly. It was a pretty half-hearted statement, but Rich seemed satisfied.

“That’s the spirit!” Rich turned to Michael. “Michael, how about you?”

“Oh, you wanna know what _I_ learned?” Michael feigned surprise. Rich, however, apparently fell for the act. 

“What?” Rich asked.

“I learned that I’m surrounded by a bunch of snakes who will throw anyone under the bus if it benefits them.” Michael snapped before sitting back down.

Jake rolled his eyes. “God, Michael, I forgot how angst you were.”

“Hey!” Michael narrowed his eyes.

“All right, it appears we still need some group healing.” Rich pressed his lips together. “While Dustin’s gone, why don’t we all just hash out how we’ve been coping? I myself have been keeping very busy-“

“Oh, come _on_ , Rich!” Michael snapped. “Are you seriously going to go on pretending like nothing happened?”

“For God’s sake, Michael!” Rich threw his hands up into the air exasperatedly. “You’re not always the center of attention, okay?! We aren’t here just to listen to you complain!”

“You know...” Jenna shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “...they say that trauma makes people closer, but it just feels like we’re all strangers now.”

“Yeah.” Jake nodded, giving Rich a pointed stare. “Maybe we were all strangers the whole time.”

Chloe sighed. “I tried looking through old photos after... _it_ happened. In the pictures, everything looks like it’s the same, but it’s not.”

“Everyone is talking about us.” Jake said. “At school. They’re gossiping.”

“We know that, Jake.” Michael said, but there was no bite in his voice. 

“Every time I close my eyes, I just see the bodies.” Jenna shivered. “I can’t escape it.”

“Sometimes, I pray to God and I wonder if he’s even there at all.” Chloe’s voice was so frighteningly small that it made everyone fall silent. After an excruciating moment, Rich shook his head. 

“This time, we’ll be at the top of our game.” Rich said, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself than anyone else. “Nothing is going to get by us if we keep our spirits up.”

“Sure.” Michael rolled his eyes. “Nothing.”

Chloe fidgeted with one of her many braids. “It’s all about control, my therapist says. Telling yourself you’re in control.” She exhaled a shaky breath. “I am in control.”

“Oh, look.” Michael’s eyes widened in mock surprise. “Fancy Chloe over here has a _therapist_.” 

“Okay, everyone!” Rich clapped his hands together for what must have been the fiftieth time. “I think that’s enough of _that_! We all just need to remember that this year belongs to us. We’re going for the gold, and I’m going to make sure nothing gets in our way.”

“Rich...” Jake bit his lip and grabbed his best friend’s arm. “Are you _sure_ you’re up for this?”

“Jake.” Rich shrugged Jake’s grip off. “I can handle myself. The Tigers are going to come back stronger than ever before.” He smiled, nodding to himself. “Now, let’s move to the pep rally. I have a new cheer planned that I think will really-“

Michael cut Rich off. “Oh, no bonding this time? But it went so _well_ before!”

Rich pinched the bridge of his nose. “Michael, please. I have the floor-“

Michael ignored Rich and stood up, putting on a high-pitched voice that was probably supposed to be a cheap imitation of Rich. “Hi everybody, I’m Michael! Those candles are the dead ones, and the freshman is in prison!”

“Michael!” Jake wasn’t sure if it was the mocking of Rich that set him off, or if he had just heard Michael’s annoying interjections one too many times. “Why are you even here?!”

“Because everyone in this room knows that Christine didn’t kill anybody!” Michael yelled.

“Hey!” Chloe stood up, then caught herself and lowered her voice. She gestured down the hallway to the bathroom which Dustin was currently in. “He doesn’t-“

“Dustin is on the team.” Michael looked around at his fellow Tigers. “Don’t you think he should know what he’s getting into?”

“Christine confessed.” Jake said, stepping towards Michael.

“She _admitted_ to blacking out.” Michael said. “That’s not a ‘confession’, that’s what _you_ did to her.”

“Don’t act like you’re all innocent.” Jake snapped. “You were on my side. You helped frame her.”

“I was _scared_!” Michael shot back. “My best friend had just been murdered!”

“We all had shit to deal with that night!” Jake yelled.

“Yeah, well...” Michael’s eyes fell upon his gym bag. “I can fix my mistakes.” He crossed the room and began rooting through his bag. “Or at the very least, admit I made one.”

Jake grabbed Michael’s sleeve, pulling him away from his bag. “I won’t let you ruin everything we worked for just because you can’t get over your little boyfriend!” 

“Why are you so obsessed with Jeremy and me?!” Michael shoved Jake, causing him to stumble backwards. “I’m sure it sucks to have never had a genuine relationship in your life, Jake, but I won’t let you ruin what’s left of mine!”

“You don’t _have_ a relationship with Jeremy!” Jake yelled. “He’s fucking _dead_!” 

That statement hung heavy in the air for a moment. No one was quite sure how to respond. Even Rich had fallen silent.

“Should I maybe come back later?” 

As if they were operating all at once, everyone in the room turned to see Dustin awkwardly standing in the entrance to the living room, wearing a tee-shirt, jeans, and his denim jacket with his pizza delivery uniform tucked under his arm.

“No, no!” Rich shook his head rapidly. “We just need to focus.”

“Great, so I’m going to ‘focus’ on getting Christine out of prison.” Michael moved to his bag once again and took out his cell phone, shoving past Jake to get to the stairs. Before he reached the top, he turned around to address his shocked teammates. “Oh, unless one of you wants to kill me first!”

With that, he slammed the door with such force, it caused the walls to reverberate. 

Jake shook his head and turned to face Rich. “He’s just upset. He’s not gonna actually do anything.”

“And what if he does?” Rich’s question didn’t receive an answer, however, as Dustin voiced his absolute confusion. 

“What in the ever-loving hell is going on?!”

As Jake and Rich scrambled to give Dustin an explanation, Chloe sank back into her chair with a tired sigh. For the first time, she let herself relax her rigid posture and close her eyes. 

_”Chloe?”_

At the sound of the familiar voice, Chloe shot up. “What?”

Chloe looked around for the source of the voice, but didn’t see it anywhere. Jenna, Dustin, Jake, and Rich were all staring at her with concerned expressions on their faces, but Chloe barely noticed them as she stood up and raced out the stairs, fighting back tears.

As Chloe left, an even more confused Dustin looked over at Rich and Jake, his eyes asking for an explanation. 

“It’s been a rough few months.” Jake said, and that wasn’t even a lie on his part.


	13. #MoveOn

Michael wasn’t even sure what was driving him forward as he stepped out of Rich’s front door and into the cool evening air. He was holding his cell phone so tightly in his hand that his knuckles were pale, as if it were an anchor that was pulling him down, keeping him grounded. He moved to leave, but the sight of the bushes stopped him. 

The same bushes where Jeremy had died.

All the fire that had propelled Michael to storm out of the basement died in an instant. His anger was gone, leaving a sad, broken teenage boy who just wanted his best friend back. 

Biting his lip in a futile attempt to keep from crying, Michael sank down and sat on the porch steps. Just like he had that night. Only this time, Jeremy wasn’t coming to comfort him anytime soon.

Because Jeremy was dead. He was gone. And nothing would ever be the same.

Michael’s mind kept replaying the events of that night over and over again. It was like his brain was stuck on a loop, and all Michael could do was watch. In some of these what-if scenarios, Michael walked outside to find Jeremy’s bloody body. In others, Michael found the killer standing over his best friend with a bloody knife. In one particularly scary dream that had caused Michael to wake up in a cold sweat, they’d both been stabbed, left for dead outside Rich’s house. Whatever the variations, these dreams all ended the same way- with Jeremy dead, and Michael left wondering what he could have done.

The fact that he was now hearing Jeremy’s voice didn’t make anything easier.

“I miss you.”

His words were only met with empty air. Michael wasn’t even sure why he’d spoken in the first place. But for some reason, as he looked towards the bushes where Jeremy had died, the words kept tumbling out of him. 

“Do you know what it’s like? Going back to school without you? Having to just go through the motions and pretend that everything’s okay? Having everyone tiptoe around you like you’re some fucking piece of glass that will shatter if they say the wrong thing?”

Michael paused to wipe his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket.

“The worst part-“ He choked back a sob. “The worst part is that sometimes, I’ll remember plans we had for this year. And for a second, I get this little bit of hope, but then I remember that you’re gone.” Now he was crying. Fuck. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to watch your dad call the colleges and tell them you’re dead? That you’re not coming this fall? Or to watch them _bury_ you at the funeral? Or to watch them put up a fucking _plaque_ on the fountain in the courtyard that says _In Loving Memory of Jeremy Heere and Madeline Cox_? Like a plaque’s gonna help. I can’t even _look_ at the fountain anymore because all it does is remind me that you’re dead.”

Michael stood up, not even attempting to stop himself from crying anymore. He was too overcome with emotion to bother. “You’re dead. And I never even got to tell you that I’m _sorry_. The last thing I said to you- maybe the last thing you ever _heard_ -was that nobody believed in you anymore. I never-“ Michael let out a sob. “-I never even got to say goodbye. It’s not fair.”

The only reply was the wind whistling in the trees. 

_It’s not fair._

Michael knew how childlike that sounded, but he couldn’t help it. It _wasn’t_ fair. None of it was fair. Jeremy should still be alive. He _deserved_ to still be alive. And yet, the decision of one murderous asshole had trumped everything that _should_ have been. Seventeen years, gone in an instant.

“Who did this to you?” Michael wasn’t expecting a response, but he kept talking anyways. He hadn’t shared these feelings with anyone- not his moms, not his school counselors, not his therapist. It was like his emotions were a faucet- they just kept on pouring out of him. “Was it someone we know? Was it someone at that sleepover?”

The question had been burning in his mind ever since that night. It hadn’t been Christine who’d killed them- that much, Michael knew for certain. So _who_?

“Michael?”

At the sound of Jenna’s voice, Michael immediately corrected himself. He wiped the tears from his face and adjusted his stance to make it appear as though he _hadn’t_ just been bawling his eyes out and talking to the fucking wind.

“What?” As he turned around to face Jenna, Michael’s voice had a little more bite in it than he would have liked. At least he wouldn’t have to convince Jenna that he wasn’t feeling like himself.

Jenna had both hands in her pockets, and she wasn’t meeting Michael’s eye as she spoke. “You can’t go to the police.”

Out of all the things Michael had been expecting to hear from Jenna... that wasn’t it. “What? Why not?”

“I can’t tell you.” Jenna’s eyes were wide and panicked. “You just... can’t go.”

Nervously, Michael took a step back, away from Jenna. “Is there something you need to tell me, Jennie?”

“It’s not what you think.” Jenna blurted out, almost too quickly.

“Try me.” Michael snapped.

“I...” Jenna’s hands and voice were shaky. “Brooke... she jumped out of nowhere. I thought maybe she was... I couldn’t see anything... I thought she was the one who killed Jeremy and Madeline...”

Michael’s eyes widened. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t mean to hurt her, I promise!” Jenna’s voice broke. “And I didn’t hurt anybody else.”

Michael’s mouth fell open in shock. “ _You_ killed Brooke?!”

“Shh!” Jenna’s eyes widened and she held up a finger, as if she was a parent and Michael a disruptive toddler. “Don’t say it out loud!”

Michael didn’t really feel like quieting down after this major revelation, but he lowered his voice to a whisper anyways. “Well, why didn’t you say anything?!”

“I was _scared_!” Michael could tell from Jenna’s body language that she was telling the truth on that one. “I had just _killed_ someone! You have to understand...”

“Okay, so do you know who killed everyone else?” Michael asked. 

Jenna shook her head rapidly. “No, no, I swear! Just... don’t go to the police. Please. I never meant for anyone to get hurt. Especially not Brooke! I liked Brooke!”

“What?”

At the sound of another voice, both Michael and Jenna froze. They turned around slowly to see Chloe standing on the front porch steps. The look on her face said it all- she’d heard everything.


	14. #ShutUpAndCheer

In hindsight, perhaps Dustin should have thought a just _little_ bit harder about joining a team where there were actual murders and they never really found the killer.

At the sound of Jenna’s scream, he, along with Rich and Jake, had practically raced up the stairs and out the front door. What they found was a scene of absolute chaos- Chloe had tackled Jenna, and the two girls were currently engaged in an almost-catfight (which, in fairness, mostly just consisted of Chloe attacking Jenna while Jenna blocked the blows and tried to get away). 

“You ruined my life!” Chloe screamed, a mixture of fury and despair on her face. “I hate you!”

“Oh my God.” Jake muttered, before he and Rich ran over to the two girls and began trying to pull them apart. Michael, very wisely, decided to get out of the way and ran over to where Dustin was currently standing and watching the drama unfold in a state of absolute shock.

“Yo, what the _fuck_?” Dustin asked incredulously. “What’s going on?”

“Jenna killed Brooke, and Chloe is _really_ pissed about it.” Michael said, almost absentmindedly. He didn’t even look at Dustin- he was just staring at the fight.

Dustin’s eyes widened. “ _What?!_ ”

Michael didn’t seem to be paying much attention to Dustin. He was more focused on the fight currently going on, and making sure _he_ didn’t get dragged into it.

_Holy fuck, I just joined the murder squad._

Dustin shook his head in disbelief. It was true- out of everyone, Jake and Michael seemed like the most level-headed of the bunch. And two out of five was not a great ratio for sanity among your teammates. 

And yet, out of all of them, Dustin was pretty sure _he_ was the stupidest one. Because Dustin was the absolute knucklehead who had _willingly_ transferred schools to join the cheer team where two of its members had been murdered.

Could Dustin’s high school experience just be _normal_ for once?

Then again, was there even such thing as a “normal” high school experience?

Dustin didn’t even really _love_ cheerleading. Sure, he liked it. Yeah, it was fun. And it was nice when people cheered for him. But it wasn’t everything in his life. It wasn’t what he wanted to do forever.

So why had he even agreed to transfer in the first place? Because, well, because they’d offered him a fucking _scholarship_. A full ride to a private high school that would normally cost him more than his family’s apartment cost. A school that had one of the best science departments in the whole state. And all he had to do in exchange was put up with some truly messed up kids for two years.

The deal was looking less and less appealing with every passing second.

Finally, Rich and Jake managed to pull Chloe off of Jenna. Chloe struggled against their grip, but between the two of them, they managed to hold her back pretty well.

“It was an accident!” Jenna yelled. “Brooke jumped out of nowhere!”

“She came to see me!” Chloe’s voice overlapped Jenna’s as the two girls spoke at the same time. “She came to propose!”

Michael’s eyes widened. “Brooke _proposed_ to you?”

“Congratula...” Rich’s voice trailed off as he seemed to remember their situation in the middle of his sentence. 

“It doesn’t matter now!” Chloe shook her head, her voice breaking. “Brooke loved me, and I didn’t even go to her funeral! She left one of her sweaters at my house and I burned it!” Her eyes narrowed at Jenna. “Because _you_ lied to me!” 

“I can buy you a new sweater!” Jenna offered weakly. 

“Shut _up_!” Chloe yelled. “Shut _up_! You... you _bitch_!”

Jake and Rich seemed shocked at Chloe’s usage of profanity- so shocked that Chloe was easily able to slip out of their grip and lunge at Jenna once more. This time, Michael ran down to assist Jake and Rich in their attempts to break up the two girls, while Dustin just stood there and watched.

“Is this Hell?” Dustin muttered. “Is this what Hell looks like?”

Jake reached out to grab Chloe from behind and attempt to pull her off of Jenna. Chloe, in a blind rage, shoved Jake backwards with surprising force, causing him to stumble backwards. 

“Look out!” Michael pushed Dustin out of the way before Jake could run into him. Instead, Jake and Michael collided with enough force to send them both falling to the ground. Jake didn’t even stop to apologize to Michael- in fact, he actively pushed Michael down in order to get up and rejoin Rich in his attempt to subdue Chloe and Jenna. Not willing to let the dude get trampled, Dustin reached out and pulled Michael up. 

“Thanks for taking the hit for me.” Dustin whispered.

Michael nodded, clearly out of breath. “You don’t want to get on Jake’s bad side, and I’m already a lost cause.”

“You!” Jenna pointed at Dustin, causing everything to stop for a moment. “You were here that night!”

Dustin let out an incredulous laugh, more out of disbelief than anything else. “Yeah, for like two seconds.”

“Long enough to kill my sister and get a spot on the team!” Chloe muttered.

“I _left_!” Were these kids seriously trying to accuse Dustin now? “I have literal receipts!”

“I ordered the pizza.” Rich stepped in between Dustin and the rest of the team. “He was here because of me.”

Chloe glared at Dustin. “So how do we know you’re not going to go and talk to the police right after this?” 

“Well, there’s nothing to tell them!” Rich said quickly. “Because none of us did anything!”

_Yeah, like I believe that._

“Except Jenna.” Michael pointed out.

Rich crossed his arms, annoyed. “Well, she apologized!” 

“Look.” Jake stepped forward. “Dustin can do whatever he wants.” He gave Dustin a pointed stare. “But if I were him, I wouldn’t remind everyone that I was here that night... and then got a massive scholarship after our teammates were killed.” He let that hang heavy in the air for a second. “I’d leave that alone.”

Dustin sputtered for a response, but came up empty. Instead, he stepped back in defeat as Rich and Jake attempted to stop yet another fight from starting. “This is a fucking nightmare.”

“Tell me about it.” Dustin hadn’t realized that Michael was standing right next to him. “You scared?”

Dustin sighed. “Terrified, really. But it’s not like I can let any of these kids see it.”

“All of us are scared.” Michael said. “Deep down.” 

“Yeah, well, I’m not like all of you.” Dustin shook his head. “This is my one shot, and I can’t blow it. I’m not psyched to be here, but if I have to, I guess I’ll just... shut up and cheer.”

“That’s a good motto.” Michael nodded. “Shut up and cheer.” He looked over at Dustin. “We can help each other.”

“Yeah.” Dustin smiled. If he had to pick any of these kids to have in his corner... he’d definitely pick Michael. “Help each other stay sane.”

Michael laughed. “At this point, I’ll take it.”

“You know what?” Rich sighed. “Let’s just... go inside and get our things. We can reconvene in the gym on Monday.” 

Chloe gave Jenna one final glare, then stormed inside. After a second of hesitation, Jenna followed.

Rich looked over to Dustin and Michael with a pleading expression on his face. “Just... keep them away from each other?”

Dustin and Michael nodded, following Jenna and Chloe inside. 

Rich sighed. “I’ll go get some ice for Chloe and Jenna.”

Jake put a hand on Rich’s shoulder. “You can’t let them leave. They’ll never come back.”

“I can’t force people to stay on the team!” Rich said. “ _Especially_ if there’s a murderer.”

“Jenna killed Brooke by accident.” Jake said.

“What about Jeremy and Madeline?” Rich snapped. “Did somebody stab _them_ by accident?” His lisp came out on the ‘s’ in the word ‘stab’- he must have been nervous. Jake didn’t blame him. 

“Somebody broke into the house.” Jake lowered his voice to a whisper. “It was never one of us.”

Rich shook his head. He seemed unconvinced. “So why’d we blame Christine?” 

“Because they would have blamed one of us!” Jake blurted out, before he could stop himself. “They would have blamed you, and I wasn’t about to let that happen.”

“What about you?” Rich asked. “They could have blamed you.”

“I didn’t care if they blamed me or not!” Jake yelled- to hell with subtlety. “I just wanted to protect you!”

“So you decided to frame an innocent girl for murder?!” Rich shook his head. “I don’t need you to ‘protect’ me! I can help myself!”

“I...” Jake wasn’t even sure what he could say next. 

_I did it because I was scared._

_I did it to show you that I’m still worth something._

_I did it to show you that I still have something to bring to the team._

_I did it because I care about you._

_I did it because I love you._

“I’ll be in the gym after school on Monday.” Rich said coldly, snapping Jake out of his thoughts. “And anyone who wants to join me is more than welcome.”

With that, Rich turned and walked back inside his house.

And Jake didn’t even have it in him to stop him.

For the first time since this whole nightmare started, Jake started crying. 

_You fucked up._

Jake remembered what he’d said to Rich when they’d fought during the sleepover. _Without me, you’d be nothing._

That wasn’t true.

It was Jake who would be nothing without Rich.


	15. #TheBreakdown

You could cut the tension in Rich’s basement with a knife. It was even _more_ awkward now than it had been at the start of this evening- which was a real achievement. Chloe and Jenna sat on opposite sides of the couch, with Jenna holding an ice pack to her stomach while scrolling through her phone, and Chloe holding one against her neck while periodically giving Jenna the evil eye. Michael and Dustin had seated themselves between the two girls- either they just wanted to sit next to each other, or they had very wisely decided to create a buffer between the girls in the event of another catfight breaking out. 

“You know...” Dustin spoke up, breaking the silence. “For kids with a multi-million dollar gym facility at your school, you sure do practice in this basement a lot.”

“It was something with the football team.” Rich said as he made his way towards the top of the basement stairs. “They needed the gym to run drills or something like that.” When he reached the door at the top of the staircase, he pulled on the doorknob to get it to open- but the door stayed put. After a minute of jiggling the handle, Rich let out an exasperated laugh and shook his head. “Okay, very funny.” He turned around to face his teammates, hands on his hips. “Come on, who locked the door?”

Michael sat up, blinking as if wondering whether or not he’d heard right. “What?”

“No fucking way.” Jake muttered in disbelief.

“Um...” Jenna looked up from her phone, eyes widening. “Why is the WiFi not working?”

“It was fine a few minutes ago!” Rich continued fiddling with the door, which still refused to budge.

Dustin looked over his shoulder at Rich. “There’s no cell service?”

Michael shook his head. “Not in the basement.”

“Did you somehow get a landline by now?” Chloe asked, somewhat hopefully.

Rich rolled his eyes. “That question only gets more stupid with time, Chloe!” He yanked on the door again, but the stupid thing remained closed. “Y’know what?” He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. “Maybe this isn’t such a bad thing. Maybe it’s a sign! A sign that we are all supposed to be here together, working this out right now.”

“Or a sign that we need to get out of this locked basement of death.” Michael snapped.

“Michael, please-“ Rich shook his head, apparently deciding that arguing was Michael was pointless. “There’s a spare key somewhere down here. I’ll look for it. In the meantime, can we start to talk things out? Please?” Rich came back down the stairs and began searching the bookshelves. 

Jake threw his hands up in the air. “Look, we’ve been through this before. We’re a cheer team. Let’s do a fucking cheer.”

“Yeah, no.” Michael shook his head. “There’s no way that’s happening when I’m locked in a basement with _someone_ who murdered Jeremy.”

Jake groaned in frustration. “No one here killed Jeremy, Michael! Get over it!”

“And why the hell am I supposed to believe you?!” Michael shot back.

“Fine, you want a murderer?” Jake crossed his arms. “Let’s look at the facts. I think it’s safe to say that anyone who met Madeline could have easily killed her.”

“Well, everyone liked Jeremy.” Michael said.

“Lovers’ quarrel, maybe?” Jake raised an eyebrow.

“Be real Jake, if I was going to kill _anybody_ that night, it most certainly would have been you.” Michael glared at Jake. 

“Well, how do I know you’re not done?” Jake asked. “Maybe I’m the next one on your hit list.”

“Well, why would I have waited?” Michael asked. “Why not just kill you at the sleepover and be done with it?”

“You’re the criminal mastermind, buddy, not me.” Jake muttered.

Jenna raised her hand, as if she were a kid asking for permission to speak at school. “Um, I already confessed to killing one person, so I think that takes me out of the running.”

“Unless...” Jake’s voice trailed off.

“Unless what?” Jenna asked.

“Unless...” Jake crossed the room to stand in front of Jenna. “Unless you told Michael that you killed Brooke to throw us off your tracks.”

Jenna scoffed. “Jake, please. I am not _that_ smart.”

“Well, maybe that’s just been an act, huh?” Jake said, “Maybe you’ve been tricking us this whole time.”

Michael shook his head. Even for Jake, this theory was a new level of ridiculous. “Jake, please, she’s not that smart.”

“Hey!” Jenna stood up, offended.

“You just said that!” Michael said. 

“Yeah, that doesn’t mean _you_ get to say it.” Jenna crossed her arms.

“Just admit she might have done it!” Jake said.

“Well, she killed Brooke.” Michael sighed. “I don’t know.”

“And we’ve completely ruled out Dustin?” Chloe glared at Dustin, who had been watching this whole thing unfold with a _what-the-fuck_ look on his face.

“Look!” Dustin stood up, hands in the air as if he were surrendering. “I’ll go back to West High. I’ll do whatever you want, just stop dragging me into this bullshit!”

“Admit you killed Madeline!” Chloe pointed an accusing finger at Dustin.

“I don’t even know who that is!” Dustin yelled, exasperated.

“Yeah, ‘cus you killed her.” Chloe snapped.

“What does that even mean?!” Dustin yelled.

“Guys, please stop-“ Rich attempted to break up the argument, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.

“So who was in the shower that killed Madeline?” Chloe said, more to herself than to anyone else. Yet, for some reason, Jake zeroed in on this.

“Uh, the shower didn’t kill her. Murder did.” Jake bent down so he was at Chloe’s eye level. “Or last I heard, it was God who killed poor Madeline. Isn’t that right, Chloe? Better get your story straight.”

Chloe sputtered for a moment before finding her voice again. “I never said that _God_ killed Madeline! She made her own decisions!”

“Oh, so Madeline died because she was a drunk?” Jake raised an eyebrow. “Are you implying she deserved to die?”

“That’s not what I’m saying!” Irritated, Chloe pushed Jake away from her. 

Michael shook her head. “But why would Chloe kill Jeremy? She never hated him.”

“Or did she?” Jenna narrowed her eyes at Chloe- apparently, she was still bitter about the whole catfight thing.

“Well, Chloe?” Jake crossed his arms. “Did you hate Jeremy?” 

“Madeline hated Jeremy!” Chloe said. “Not me!”

“So what?” Jenna sat back down on the couch, putting her head in her hands. “Did _Madeline_ kill Jeremy?”

Michael turned to Jake. “Well, _you_ got Christine drunk.”

“Yeah, for fun!” Jake said. “It was a dare, dipshit!”

“Oh, yeah.” Michael gave a patronizing smile. “I’m sure Christine is having loads of _fun_ in prison.”

Jake’s eyes widened, as if Michael had just reminded him of something. “Hey, what about Christine? She could have killed them just as easily as any of us. Maybe that drunk thing was just an act, hmm?”

“You saw that girl passed out!” Michael snapped. “How could she possibly have killed them?”

“I don’t know!” Jake yelled exasperatedly. 

“Michael, I don’t know if we should trust you.” Chloe said. “I mean, we all saw it- Jeremy was leaving, and Michael would have done anything to make him stay.”

Michael blinked. “‘Anything’ as in ‘kill him’?”

Chloe nodded. “Yes!”

“Okay, well, I’ll have you know that I would _much_ rather have Jeremy off at college than fucking _dead_!” Michael whirled around to face Jake. “Can we go back to Jake?”

“Why?!” Jake narrowed his eyes. “There’s nothing left to say! And besides, if I was the killer, I would never tell you anyways!” He shook his head. “Rich is right. We’re wasting time.”

“Hey!” Jenna stood up. “Jake hated Madeline.”

“Everyone hated Madeline!” Jake snapped. _Madeline_ hated Madeline!”

“But Jake never hated Jeremy...” Chloe’s voice trailed off, as if she were lost in thought.

Michael scoffed. “Yeah, right. Jake hates everybody.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “That is _not_ fair.” 

“Okay, then, name _one_ person here you actually like.” Michael crossed his arms.

Jake opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, Chloe yelled out, “Michael!” 

Michael and Jake both turned to Chloe with confused expressions. “What?”

“Jake is in love with Michael!” Chloe seemed very pleased with herself for figuring this out. “And he killed Jeremy because he was _jealous_!”

“Is this some kind of joke?” Jake gave a laugh of disbelief. “I have feelings for Michael, but they’re all incredibly negative.” He looked down at Michael. “No offense.”

“None taken, I feel the same way.” Michael said.

“Look, Chloe, I have no idea what you’ve been smoking. Clearly you need to put me in contact with your drug dealer.” Jake shook his head.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with Jake.” Michael said. “We are _not_ together.”

“Or you’ve been together this whole time!” Jenna yelled.

“That’s what I’m saying!” Chloe nodded.

“I can’t believe this.” Jake muttered. “You’re crazy. You’ve all officially lost it.” He stalked over to where his bag was and grabbed it, slinging it over his shoulder as he walked towards the stairs. “I hope you find your killer, motherfuckers.” He stuck his middle finger out at the group. “See you in Hell.”

Jake began to walk up the stairs, but stopped halfway through. “The door’s still locked, isn’t it?”

Rich nodded. “Yep.”

“Right.” Jake turned around and threw his bag down on the couch with a sigh. “Forgot that.”

The room was finally quiet, and Rich took advantage of this opportunity to get a word in. “Now, is everyone done screaming at each other?”

No one spoke. Even Jake was, miraculously, quiet.

“Good.” Rich sighed. “Then we can finally get some work done. We have a bright future ahead of us, guys. So let’s just put the past behind us and move on.”

“It’s not that easy.” Michael scoffed.

“It has to be.” Rich looked around at the rest of the team, nodding as if he was expecting them all to agree with him. “You all know the cheer, right? Or do I have to teach it to you again? _We are the soul of the school, the pride in the name, the heart and the flame. Our words are pure inspiration, years of creation, changing the nation._ ”

“Rich...” Jenna bit her lip. “Now really isn’t a good time. Maybe we should just skip the pep rally.”

“Why?” Rich blinked, almost as if he was puzzled by Jenna’s statement. “I’m the best I’ve ever been. This is everything I-“ He stopped mid-sentence. “- _we_ wanted! C’mon, guys, don’t you see? We’re phoenixes!” 

“Rich, calm down-“

“Tigers fight and Tigers win, right?” Rich cut Jake off, the alarming cheeriness in his tone growing as he continued speaking. Rich seemed less peppy and more maniacal with every passing second. “Regionals are right around the corner, so I would really appreciate it if you stopped complaining and started putting some actual effort into the cheers.” He laughed- not an amused laugh, but the laugh of someone at the end of their rope. Something was very, very wrong.

“We’re not _complaining_.” Michael snapped, although he too looked incredibly concerned. “We’re dealing with the deaths of our friends.”

“We can’t waste any more time with stupid stuff like that!” Rich yelled- actually, honest-to-god, yelled. The kind of yell that made everyone wince at its volume. “If you have a dream, you need to chase it. Otherwise, you get nowhere.”

Jake’s eyes widened at his best friend’s erratic behavior. “Rich...”

“Do you guys just want to settle for second place?” Rich turned around, as if to address all of his teammates. “We have a chance here to make something of ourselves. And you guys aren’t going to waste it. You won’t- I won’t _let_ you waste it. I won’t-“ He shook his head. “I won’t-“ 

Jake reached out to his best friend, but there was no stopping Rich now. He was breaking down. 

“Because captain of the team, you know, always has to be perfect!” Rich gave a bitter laugh. “Why wouldn’t he be? He’s gotta be perfect. He’s gotta have a perfect team. Perfect, perfect, perfect. And you’ve gotta do everything you can to make sure everyone is _perfect_.”

“Rich.” 

The sound of Jake’s voice seemed to somewhat bring Rich back to reality. “Yes, Jake?”

“Can I have the key?” Jake’s voice was shaking slightly as he spoke to Rich. “You can’t lock us down here like this.”

“No, Jake.” Rich shook his head, backing away from Jake. “You can’t. None of you are leaving this basement until we have something to show at that pep rally.”

“We’ll come right back.” Michael said. “Just give Jake the key.”

“Everything’s okay.” Chloe’s voice was soft and almost comforting, if you didn’t pay attention to how terrified she sounded. “We’re all here for you.”

“We all want to go to Regionals. Just give me the key...” Jake stepped closer to Rich, and that was what finally set Rich off.

“No!” Rich pulled something out of his jacket- a knife -and pointed it at Jake. Alarmed, Jake stumbled back a few steps as Rich began to talk, his lisp coming out on every word. “Who kept you all on track when the world was trying to drag you down? Who decided that, when Jeremy and Madeline failed you, they needed to pay for it?”

Jake blinked, breathing heavily. He shook his head, and everyone could see that he was starting to cry. Nobody had ever seen Jake cry before. “Rich, oh my God, please, no. You didn’t. Please say you didn’t.”

Rich ignored his best friend’s pleas. “It was me! I killed Jeremy and Madeline! Because they needed to die! They let us all down! And I knew that if they stayed on the team- if they stayed _alive_ , we’d never get anywhere. We’d all be nobodies!”

“Oh my God.” Jake stumbled backwards, as if his legs had been kicked out from under him. 

“Everyone here hated Jeremy and Madeline!” Rich yelled. “I was just the only one who had the guts to stand up and _do_ something about it!”

“Rich, sit down.” Michael held out his hands, as if he were a zookeeper trying to calm a wild animal. “We’ll get help...”

“I gave you all a second chance.” Rather than yelling, this time Rich’s voice was shaky- as if he were about to start crying. “I didn’t want to do this.”

“We know.” Jenna’s voice was low and soothing. “It’s okay.”

Despite the calming sound of Jenna’s voice, that seemed to set off something in Rich. “Like you, Jenna!” He pointed the knife at Jenna, causing her to hold her hands up in the air and step back. “I knew how good you were. When everyone was laughing at you, I wanted to get you on the team!”

“Little on the fence about that right now.” Jenna mumbled, eyeing the knife in Rich’s hand.

“Oh my God.” Chloe was on the brink of hysteria. “We’re all going to die down here. God, I’ve done nothing with my life!”

“You won a lot of dressage medals.” Jake said weakly. There was no bite in his voice- he was genuinely trying to comfort Chloe.

Chloe sniffed, nodding. “Yeah. I did.”

“You can’t kill us.” Michael was trying to sound brave, but his voice was shaking. “You need a team.”

“I could replace every one of you!” Rich said, though his voice betrayed a hint of doubt. “The case is closed. There’s no evidence, no video, no fingerprints. I made sure of that.”

As Rich continued talking, Jenna noticed Michael leaning down and picking up something from the floor- a five-pound exercise weight, the same one Rich had dubbed ‘the speaking weight’ at the sleepover. Michael motioned for Jenna to distract Rich, which she did.

“You’re right.” Jenna stepped forward, doing her very best to appear calm. “I think we should learn the cheer.”

Jake’s eyes widened. “Jennie, sit down-“

“No, I think Rich is making a really good point.” Jenna subtly motioned to Michael with the weight, and Jake seemed to realize what she was getting at. “Obviously, this means a lot to him, and we’ve all been pretty unhelpful. So I think... I think we owe it to him to really crack _down_.”

Right as Jenna said the word “down”, Michael moved to hit Rich with the weight. However, before he could make contact, Rich spun around and grabbed Michael’s wrist, causing him to drop the weight. Before anyone could do anything to stop him, Rich forced Michael to the floor and plunged his knife into Michael’s thigh.

“Michael, this is a serious misuse of the speaking weight!” Rich snapped.

“Rich, don’t do that-“

Michael screamed in pain as Rich twisted the knife deeper into his wound, then yanked it out. He held the blade, reddened with Michael’s blood, out for everyone in the room to see.

“You know, Michael, it has been so hard keeping you on this team.” Rich muttered. “Because you’re so good, but so fucking _annoying_.” Rich yanked Michael upwards, putting the knife to his throat. “I think you’ve had more than enough chances-“

“Let him go!” Dustin’s eyes widened with terror.

“See, Dustin, this is what happens when you let your teammates fall.” Rich brought the knife even closer to Michael’s throat, but before he could hurt Michael, Jenna grabbed the weight off the ground and swung it as hard as she could at Rich’s head.

It was like Jenna had hit a home run. Rich fell over, unconscious from the force of the blow. As he fell to the ground, Michael managed to scramble out of his grip. The room was frozen in silence for a moment- just one moment, but it felt like an eternity. Then, all hell broke loose.

“Oh shoot.” Jake muttered. “Oh God!”

Dustin scrambled over to Michael, looking for something he could use to help with Michael’s stab wound. 

Jake grabbed Rich’s knife off the floor, then handed the bloody weapon to Chloe. “Take it, take it!”

Jenna scrambled over to Rich’s limp body and felt his wrist, then held it up in the air triumphantly. “Found the pulse, guys! Found the pulse!”

Dustin helped prop Michael up against the coffee table, then reached into his backpack and took out his work shirt, pressing it up against the wound. “Here.”

Michael blinked. “Am I okay?”

“I don’t know.” Dustin mumbled, “This works on TV.”

Chloe scrambled over to the corner of the room, where there was a cardboard box labeled “XMAS DECORATIONS”. After some rooting around, she came up with two coils of Christmas lights. She ran back over to Jake, handing him the lights, and Jake in turn handed her the key to the basement door.

“Call the police.” Jake instructed. 

“Tell them to send an ambulance.” Dustin added.

Chloe nodded and raced up the steps, taking them two at a time. Jake grabbed a wooden chair out of the corner of the room and put Rich in it, then began to tie the Christmas lights around Rich’s ankles and wrists. Now more than ever, he was glad that his mom had enrolled him in Boy Scouts as a kid.

Rich blinked, slowly coming back to consciousness. “What’s going on?”

Jenna raised the speaking weight threateningly. “Should I hit him again?”

Jake shook his head. “No.”

“Are you sure?” Jenna lowered her voice to a whisper. “Do _you_ want to hit him?”

“No!” Jake shook his head again.

Rich groaned- clearly, that head injury from Jenna was messing him up a bit. “Jake, what’s going on?”

Before Jake could say anything, Chloe ran back into the room, pointing accusingly at Rich while holding up a cordless phone for everyone to see. “He has a landline! You have a landline! You’ve had a landline this _whole time_!”

Everyone stared in silence at Chloe for a second before Dustin spoke up. “Did you call the police?” 

Chloe’s eyes widened, and she began to dial a number on the phone. “Oh!

“Jake, you said that you would help me.” Rich said weakly, and Jake might have felt bad for him if not for what Rich had revealed moments ago.

“Not like this.” Jake shook his head. “If I knew that I had anything to do with you _killing_ our friends, I would have-“

“You did!” Rich cut Jake off. “I said that we should go to the police, but _you_ blamed Christine!”

“And I’m gonna regret that for the rest of my life.” Jake stepped backwards, and for a long moment, the two best friends simply stared at each other in silence.

The Rich who Jake knew couldn’t even kill spiders. He hated it when somebody set mousetraps. He hated violence, he cried when people would fight. He was the person who would stay up late as Jake texted him the most random things. He’d get scared and cover his face when the two of them watched horror movies together. He’d fainted when he tried to donate at the school blood drive. 

This wasn’t the Rich that Jake knew.

“Look.” Jake finally spoke, fighting to keep the tears from showing. If there was anything he wasn’t going to do, it was giving Rich the satisfaction of seeing him cry. “I don’t know what made you do this, but I won’t help you anymore.”

“No one is going to believe you.” Rich said. “All your fingerprints are all over that knife. I’m the one that’s tied up. _I’m_ the victim. They’re gonna listen to me.”

“Actually, I’m really hoping they do.” Dustin turned the volume all the way up on his phone and hit play.

To everyone’s shock, a recording of Rich’s voice began to play. _”The case is closed. There’s no evidence, no video, no fingerprints...”_

“How long have you been recording?” Chloe asked.

“This whole time.” Dustin shook his head. “Y’all are crazy.”

Rich’s eyes widened. “Erase it.”

“Oh.” Dustin cocked his head to the side. “But I know how much you _love_ going viral.”

Chloe returned down the stairs. “The police are on their way. They’re sending an ambulance.”

Jake nodded. “Okay. Jenna, Chloe, you two help Michael upstairs.”

Jenna and Chloe nodded, then both girls grabbed Michael and helped him walk up the basement stairs.

“You’re making a big mistake!” Rich said. “If you bring the police in here, it’s all gonna come back on you all, and we’ll be right back where we started!”

“We’ll take care of ourselves.” Jake said. “We know we were wrong. And we’ll take responsibility.”

Dustin held up a hand. “I really didn’t do anything...”

Jake rolled his eyes. “Except Dustin.” 

Dustin nodded in approval, then followed Jenna, Chloe, and Michael out the basement door. 

Rich looked up at his best friend with pleading eyes. “Jake, please...”

Jake bit his lip and turned around, fighting back tears. “Goodbye, Rich.”

With that, Jake turned and ran up the basement steps, leaving Rich behind as the sound of approaching police sirens grew louder and louder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, who placed their bets on Rich? Because if so, you were right! Happy New Year’s Eve, everybody!


End file.
